Rajasthan to face Hyderabad in quarters

Defending champions Rajasthan will take on Hyderabad in the quarter-finals of the 2011-12 Ranji Trophy from January 2 in a rematch of their season opener last year in the Plate League, when Hyderabad were routed for a Ranji record low of 21. A substantially improved performance this year led to promotion to the Elite League and they now have a chance to extract some revenge with the game being played in Hyderabad.

Maharashtra, the other team from the Plate league to be promoted, will face Tamil Nadu, which finished first in Group B, in Chennai. Mumbai, which topped Group A after beating Punjab in their final league game, will take on Madhya Pradhesh in Indore, while Kanataka and Haryana match up in Bangalore.

The BCCI has also sent the teams a notice stating that the respective zonal curators will oversee the preparation of pitches for all the Ranji knock-out matches. The BCCI's directive comes after last season's semi-finals, when Karnataka filed an official complaint against the Reliance Stadium pitch in Vadodara on which they lost to Baroda inside two days.