The Duleep Trophy, also known by its sponsorship name - the MasterCard Duleep Trophy, is a First-Class Cricket competition in India.
It is named after Indian cricketer Kumar Shri Duleepsinghji who played for England in the era before Indian Cricket Teams were commonplace.
He died in 1959 and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to create this domestic competition in his honor.
The first edition was played in the 1961-1962 season. It was initially played by teams that represented the geographical zones of the country.
Since the 2016-2017 edition, it has been played by teams selected by the BCCI.
Who Was Duleepsinghji?
Duleepsinghji was a cricketer from then-British India. He is best known for having played for the England Mens National Team from 1929 to 1931.
He spent most of his career playing for the Sussex County Club and was with them from 1924 to 1932. Later in his career, he also played for Cambridge University.
For the 1928-1929 season, he also played for Hindus, an Indian First-Class cricket team.
Significant Events
After the BCCI created the Duleep Trophy, the inaugural edition was held in the 1961-1962 season. The first winner was West Zone who defeated South Zone by 10 wickets.
Before the changes were made in 2016, five zones played in the competition. As of 2023, 6 zones are playing and are made up of different teams. The newest addition is the North East Zone Cricket Team.
In the 2003-2004 season, a guest team - England A, was introduced. The guest team was dropped after 2008.
The original format had five zonal teams compete in the event. The original zones were:
- North Zone
- South Zone
- East Zone
- West Zone
- Central Zone
The teams initially played each other in a knock-out format. By the 1993-1994 season, it was converted to a league format.
A new format was introduced in the 2016-2017 season. It included three teams chosen by the BCCI and were designated as India Blue, India Green, and India Red who played in a round-robin format.
The Zonal Format was reintroduced in the 2022-2023 season with the addition of the North East Zone.
Zoning
North Zone
South Zone
Central Zone
- Chhattisgarh
- Madhya Pradesh
- Railways
- Rajasthan
- Uttar Pradesh
- Vidarbha
East Zone
North East Zone
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Manipur
- Meghalaya
- Mizoram
- Nagaland
- Sikkim
West Zone