Guwahati, May 18: Cricket lovers in Assam will have their plate full this season with the various tournaments the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) and the BCCI have in store for them.

To begin with, the Dilip Sarma Trophy state-level inter-school tournament champions, Government Higher Secondary School, Karimganj, and runners-up Chittaranjan Chakraborty High School, Dibrugarh, will represent Assam in the inaugural edition of the BCCI all-India inter-school cricket tournament to be held from October 1 to 20.

The BCCI has introduced the Polly Umrigar Trophy under-16 school tournament, which will be played at the zonal and then at the national level, which will be held from January 20 to 27, next year. The winners and runners-up from each state will play in the zonal meet. The champions and runners-up from every zone will qualify for the national level.

The Polly Umrigar Trophy was earlier an under-15 national tournament, which will be discontinued from the ensuing season to be replaced by the under-16 tournament. The Vijay Merchant Trophy under-17 tournament, on the other hand, will become an under-16 tournament.

On the other hand, Assam’s Ranji campaign will begin with a tough encounter as they have been pitted against Bengal in the Ranji Trophy plate Group B for the season ahead. Assam’s first match is against Bengal, which will be played on home turf from November 3 to 6. The team will then travel to Agartala to play Tripura from November 10 to 13. Assam will then head to Indore to play Madhya Pradesh from November 17 to 20 and from there they’ll visit Nagpur to play Vidarbha from November 24 to 27. Finally they will go to Delhi to take on Services from December 1 to 4.

In the under-19 tournament, the Assam team will face some strong opposition from Bengal, Mumbai, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana in elite Group C. Assam will open campaign against Himachal Pradesh from November 22 to 25, followed by matches against Haryana (December 4 to 7), Mumbai (December 10 to 13) and Bengal (December 16 to 19).

The C.K. Nayudu Trophy under-22 zonal tournaments will be held from October 1 to November 23. The tournament will be converted into elite and plate groups format from next year and the top two teams from every zone in the season ahead will be in contention for elite group berths.

The Vijay Merchant Trophy under-16 zonal tournaments will be held from November 26 to December 20.

The Twenty20 tournament has also been introduced in women’s cricket. The first edition will be held from April 10 to 16. The women’s zonal limited-over tournament will be held from November 21 to December 1.

The under-19 girls’ zonal meet will be played from October 10 to 28.

Two teams from every zone will qualify for the all-India Super League which will be followed by the knockout round.