State cricket lovers can look forward to watching Jharkhand players in action in their own backyard in the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy season.

Unlike the 2016-17 season when the state's Ranji side had to play all their matches at neutral venues, this time they will play three matches at home and three outside. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to do away with neutral venues after objection from Ranji teams.

Although the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) was yet to decide on the venues for the home matches, Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad, the usual venues, are getting geared up for the games.

According to the fixture released by JSCA vice president Aseem Kumar Singh, Jharkhand, who are in Group B, will play three home matches. The first one against Haryana will be played between October 24 and 27, followed by Jammu and Kashmir (November 9 to 12) and Gujarat (November 25 to 28).

The state will begin their campaign against Kerala (October 6 to 9) in Kochi, followed by Rajasthan (October 14 to 17) in Jaipur) and the last outing against Saurashtra (November 1 to 4) in Rajkot.

Jharkhand, which was led southpaw Saurabh Tiwary in the last season, reached the quarterfinals before losing to Gujarat. The state association has already conducted strength and conditioning camps for keeping players fit ahead of the season.