It's never too early for something returned. Ranji Trophy, as if to imitate today's popular culture, arrives home for its whopping 85th edition, this time with not just cricket but also its own contribution to the social purge India finds itself in the middle of. Nine new teams in Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim and Uttarakhand will finally encounter the end of their financial crises and make their debuts in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy season that kicks off on Thursday (November 1).

Though Ranji Trophy prides itself as India's premier first-class competition [and probably deserves better], it has a lot going against it this season. BCCI's own house is on fire, and to the extent that Sourav Ganguly feels a "deep sense of fear as to where Indian cricket administration is going", in addition to how the tournament will unmistakably be encroached by the build-up to the 2019 World Cup.

That said, it's a chance for Ranji Trophy amidst all the chaos nonetheless - to not just parade inclusivity but also crop its neck out and win new fans, especially at a time there are more questions than answers for first-class cricket.

The new format

A record number of 37 teams will be participating in this edition of the tournament. We return to the Elite-Plate format, where the existing 28 teams have been divided into Elite Groups A, B [both having nine teams] and Elite Group C [10 teams], while the nine new teams are a part of the Plate Group.

Five teams from Elite Groups A and B combined, two teams from Elite Group C and one team from the Plate Group will qualify for the quarterfinal, which begins January 15. Plate Group table-toppers will also be promoted to Elite Group C in the next season and likewise, the top-two teams that qualify for the quarterfinals from Elite Group C will earn a promotion to Elite Groups A and B in the next season.

Who's who in Groups

Group A has defending champions Vidarbha, 41-time winners Mumbai, and heavyweights like Karnataka [2013-14 and 2014-15 winner], Gujarat [2016-17 winner] and Saurashtra [2015-16 runners-up] in addition to Baroda, Chhattisgarh, Railways and Maharashtra.

Group B has Tamil Nadu [runners-up twice in the last seven years], Kerala, Bengal and Madhya Pradesh [2017-18 quarterfinalists], Delhi [2017-18 runners-up] in addition to Punjab, Andhra, Hyderabad and Himachal Pradesh.

Group C consists of ten teams: Rajasthan, Tripura, Services, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Goa and Assam.

Group D consists of the nine new teams: six from the North-East in addition to Bihar, Puducherry and Uttarakhand.

India players in Ranji Trophy

The first round of the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy starts on the same day as the fifth One-Day International between India and the Windies. A three-match T20I series follows, after which India depart for Australia on November 16 for the three-match T20I series. India players who aren't a part of the ODI and T20I squads will then be available to participate in the opening few rounds of the Ranji Trophy.

- Murali Vijay and Ravichandran Ashwin have been named in Tamil Nadu's squad for their opening game against Madhya Pradesh, as has been Cheteshwar Pujara for Saurashtra. Gujarat will be led by Parthiv Patel, who will start as India's back-up wicketkeeper for the four Tests against Australia, whereas Hanuma Vihari will lead Andhra. India play a first-class warm-up match in Australia on November 28, which gives these players at least three Ranji Trophy games before the four-Test tour of Australia.

- Prithvi Shaw hasn't been named in the squad for Mumbai's opening game against Railways, but he can still make it if he's declared match-fit. If not, Shaw will have a solitary game against Karnataka which starts November 20.

- Ajinkya Rahane and Mohammed Shami though will not feature in the opening round for Mumbai and Bengal respectively, but they will have first-class games to polish their Test skills in the upcoming rounds.

- With Shreyas Iyer picked for the T20Is against the Windies, 16-year old Yashasvi Jaiswal was called into the Mumbai squad.

In the focus

- Irfan Pathan will feature as a player-cum-coach for Jammu & Kashmir this year. Although the side lost its first six matches in the recently-concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy, they came back well with three wins on the bounce to end the tournament, and it will be interesting to keep an eye on Irfan's role in their performance this season.

- There's no Shahbaz Nadeem to start Jharkhand's season, and for good. The left-arm orthodox spinner was the highest wicket-taker in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 editions, and finally earned his maiden India call-up for the Windies T20Is.

- Ishan Kishan, a hard-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman, hit a match-winning 114 in the Deodhar Trophy final and will be the one to watch out for.