Duleep Trophy Domestic matches organized by the BCCI serve as a vital platform for players across the circuit to showcase their talent. These tournaments demand consistent effort throughout the year, acting as a litmus test for aspiring cricketers. They play a pivotal role in identifying the cream of the domestic circuit—players who possess not only exceptional skills but also the mental resilience to perform under pressure.
One prominent domestic tournament conducted by the BCCI almost every year is the Duleep Trophy. Excelling in this competition is crucial, as performances here rarely go unnoticed. Outstanding displays can open doors to national selection, with selectors and senior players closely monitoring the tournament’s proceedings.
The Legacy of the Duleep Trophy: Evolution of Teams and Formats
The Duleep Trophy, first held in 1961-62, has been an annual feature of Indian domestic cricket, albeit with some variations over the years. Named after the legendary cricketer Duleepsinhji, the tournament traditionally featured six zonal teams—South, East, North, West, Central, and North East. However, the number of participating teams has varied.
Initially conducted in a knockout format, the tournament later adopted a round-robin structure. While players were usually selected based on their zones, the 2016-17 season saw a shift, replacing zonal teams with India Blue, Green, and Red. As of the 2024 season, the competition features four teams: A, B, C, and D.
How are players selected
Players are selected based on their performances in domestic tournaments like the Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy, and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Those who excel with the bat or ball earn a spot in the prestigious Duleep Trophy, where top players from various zones compete against each other. These matches showcase some of the highest levels of cricket, as the best talent from across the country comes together. To make it to such elite competitions, players need to consistently deliver exceptional performances, taking wickets or scoring runs in inter-state tournaments.
Interestingly, women cricketers also have a similar platform at the zonal level. However, their competition is called the Challenger Trophy instead of the Duleep Trophy. The Women’s Challenger Trophy is played across all three formats—multi-day, T20, and one-day matches. Like the Duleep Trophy, it features the finest players from different zones, providing them with an opportunity to compete at the highest domestic level.
Statistics in Duleep Trophy
- Last champion: South zone
- Most successful: West zone – 19 times champion
- Most runs: Wasim Jaffer
- Most wickets: Narendra Hirwani (126)
- Highest score: Raman Lamba 320 vs West zone in 1987-88 season
- Most hundreds: Anshuman Gaekwad (9)
- Highest partnership: VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid (409 vs South Zone)
- Highest score : North zone (868 vs West Zone)
- Lowest score: North Zone (48 vs South zone) and East Zone (48 vs South Zone)
- Most matches: Mohinder Amarnath (31 for North zone)
- Most dismissals by a wicketkeeper: Parthiv Patel
Division of zones
| Zone | Teams covered |
| North zone | Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Services |
| South zone | Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Hyderabad, Karnataka, Kerala, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu |
| Central zone | Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Railways, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Vidarbha |
| West zone | Baroda, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Saurashtra |
| East zone | Assam, Bihar, Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Tripura |
| North east zone | Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim |
Duleep Trophy 2024
The 2024 edition of Duleep Trophy was organized particularly to increase the engagement in red ball cricket. A lot of international players avoid participating in domestic matches. To combat that, and to improve the performance in test cricket, this year’s duleep trophy squads were prepared with the aim to include international players majorly.
First round of the tournament is finished and those who are picked in the national squad are released. For round two, a fresh bunch of players have received the call.
In round one, India C won against India D by four wickets and India B won against India A by 76
India A: Mayank Aggarwal(c), Riyan Parag, SK Rasheed, Tilak Verma, Shivam Dube, Akshay Wadkar, Tanush Kotian, Shams Mulani, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Kumar Kusharga, Shaswat Rawat, Aaqib Khan. Pratham Singh
India B: Abhimanyu Easwaran(c), Rinku Singh, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, R. Saikishore, Musheer Khan, Nitish Reddy, Suyash Prabhudesai, Rahul Chahar, N. Jagadeesan, Himanshu Mantri, Mohit Avasthi
India C: Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Sai Sudarsan, Rajat Patidar, Abhishek Porel, B Indrajith, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Anshul Khamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markande, Aryan Juyal, Sandeep Warrier, Gaurav Yadav
India D: Shreyas Iyer(c), Atharva Taide, Devdutt Padikkal, Saransh Jain, Nishant Sindhu, Arshdeep Singh, Aditya Thakare, Harshit Rana, Vidwath Kaverappa, KS Bharat, Saurabh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Ricky Bhui, Yash Dubey