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Vijay Hazare Trophy draw altered

The BCCI has altered the draw of the Vijay Hazare Trophy knockouts, swapping the line-up for the pre-quarterfinals which will be played in Rajkot on Wednesday

Amol Karhadkar
Amol Karhadkar
18-Nov-2014
The BCCI has altered the draw of the Vijay Hazare Trophy knockouts, swapping the line-up for the pre-quarterfinals which will be played in Rajkot on Wednesday. Interestingly, the BCCI doesn't have any explanation for the manner in which the draw was revised.
According to the original draw which was finalised by the tour, programme and fixtures committee and circulated to all the participating teams ahead of the season, the winners from the West and North Zones were to play one of the pre-quarterfinals, with the second-placed teams from both groups competing in the other.
Mumbai topped the West Zone league standings, with Gujarat finishing second. In the North Zone, Punjab emerged champions, with Delhi joining them in the knockouts. As a result, Mumbai should have been facing Punjab and Gujarat should have been up against Delhi.
However, according to the final draw circulated to the 10 participating teams in the knockouts and the three host associations, Mumbai are to play Delhi, while Punjab will face Gujarat on Wednesday. Three of the four teams involved in pre-quarterfinals expressed surprise over the sudden swap. "We were surprised when we saw that the draw was modified but we can't really do anything about it. As a team, we will have to face the team we are asked to play against," a coach of one of the four teams told ESPNcricinfo.
When asked about the modification in draw, a senior BCCI administrator who is responsible for domestic cricket said he will "check and get back". However, he did not respond to further requests. Secretary Sanjay Patel was unavailable for comment.

Amol Karhadkar is a correspondent at ESPNcricinfo