Duleep Trophy 2022
India has a long and elaborate history of being involved with Cricket. From playing with the English under their colonial rule to establishing several Gymkhanas across the nation and building a team to number 1 across all the formats one day. Cricket in India has seen its journey through several legends who also were not built in a day. They worked hard day in and out, playing at school and domestic level grounding themselves to the extent we cannot imagine. But, we can thank our domestic circuit that involves several tournaments that help players like Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Anil Kumble, and many other legends who have made India proud on the International stage and got the team to the top.
The Indian Domestic Circuit is quite elaborate. We have several tournaments like Ranji Trophy for First Class, Vijay Hazare Trophy for List A, and Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy for T20I format. But to skim the cream that plays in the first class league, we have the Duleep Trophy, which in itself is a privilege to be part of.
What is Duleep Trophy?
The Duleep Trophy is an Indian domestic first-class cricket competition. The tournament, named after Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji of Nawanagar (commonly known as ‘Duleep,’ was originally competed by teams representing India’s geographical zones. The Ranji trophy teams are divided into several zones and the best players in those teams form a squad for those zones. The players for each zone are chosen by BCCI selectors since 2016-17. The current champions of the tournament are India Red.
How did the Duleep Trophy Tournament Start?
In the 1961-62 season, the Board of Control for Cricket in India established the trophy where West Zone won the inaugural competition by defeating South Zone in the final by 10 wickets. Four of the five teams (excluding Central Zone) had their bowling assaults bolstered by a West Indies Test player during the 1962-63 season.
North Zone and West Zone have had the most wins (18 apiece), albeit North’s total includes one joint trophy and West has won three.
What is the format of the Duleep Trophy?
The competition was modified to a league system beginning with the 1993-1994 season and Until 2014-15, the Duleep Trophy was played by five Indian zone teams: North Zone, South Zone, East Zone, West Zone, and Central Zone. The five teams competed in a knock-out style in the original format.
The zonal teams were replaced by five new teams for the 2002-03 season: Elite A, Elite B, Elite C, Plate A, and Plate B. These teams were formed from the new Elite Group and Plate Group divisions established in the Ranji Trophy that season; however, this system only lasted one season because the new teams lacked identity.
From the 2003-04 season until the 2008-09 season, the five original zonal teams competed alongside a sixth guest team, a visiting foreign team. In 2003-04, England A was the first visiting team. The visitor team was dropped after 2008, and the original five-team knockout tournament was used until the 2014-15 season.
The Duleep Trophy did not take place in 2015-16, but it returned to the calendar in 2016-17 with a new format: three teams chosen by the BCCI selectors, dubbed India Blue, India Green, and India Red, took part. The teams competed in a round-robin event, with the top two teams advancing to the final, which India Blue won. The competition took place at the beginning of the season, and all games were played as day-night games with a pink ball.
Under 2022-23, the original five zonal teams were joined by a new Northeast Zone squad in the Zonal system. The finals for this season will be played on 21st September 2022.
How are Teams organized in the Duleep Trophy?
Each zonal squad is made up of players who have previously played for Ranji Trophy state/city teams in that region of India.
The zones and the cities are as follows:
North Zone – Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Services.
South Zone – Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Hyderabad, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu.
Central Zone – Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Railways, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Vidarbha.
East Zone – Assam, Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, Tripura.
West Zone – Baroda, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Saurashtra.
The Duleep Trophy has its own intensity and power as a few of the most talented players who are selected from already the best play against each other to lift the trophy that celebrates their talent. Many consider it as one big step towards the national squad selection just below India A.
The 2022-23 season will host its finals on 21 September 2022 which will be played between West Zone and South Zone. Ajinkya Rahane, Prithwi Shaw, Shreyas, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Jaydev Unadkat from the West while Devdutt Padikkal, Manish Pandey, Manish Pandey, and Hanuma Vihari from the South along with other prodigies of the game will be ready to showcase their enigma.
