Duleep Trophy 2023: Everything you need to know
The Duleep Trophy will mark the beginning of the 2023/24 Indian men's domestic cricket season in India. Several youngsters from the domestic circuit and the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 will aim to impress the selectors in the tournament, starting June 28. The tournament is scheduled to take place in Bengaluru, with the M Chinnaswamy Stadium set to host the final from July 12.
Six teams to feature
The Duleep Trophy was reintroduced after a three-season gap last year. From 2016 until the 2019 edition, the tournament comprised three teams - India Blue, India Green, and India Red. Last season, the tournament panned out in the zonal format. This year too, six teams - West Zone, South Zone, Central Zone, North Zone, North East Zone, and East Zone will battle it out.
The tournament includes five matches
The 2023 Duleep Trophy edition includes five matches - two quarter-finals, two semi-finals, and a final. West Zone and South Zone, the two finalists of the 2022/23 season, have already earned the semis berth. All matches except the finals will be four-day encounters.
A look at the schedule
Quarter-final 1: Central Zone vs East Zone, June 28 - July 1, Alur A Ground. Quarter-final 2: North Zone vs North East Zone, June 28 - July 1, M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Semi-final 1: West Zone vs Winner QF 1 winner, July 5-8, Alur Ground. Semi-final 2: South Zone vs Winner QF 2 winner, July 5-8, M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Final: July 12-16, M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
West Zone squad
West Zone: Priyank Panchal (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harvik Desai (wicket-keeper), Prithvi Shaw, Het Patel (wicket-keeper), Sarfaraz Khan, Arpit Vasavada, Atit Seth, Shams Mulani, Yuvraj Dodiya, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Chetan Sakariya, Chintan Gaja, and Arzan Nagwaswalla.
South Zone squad
South Zone: Hanuma Vihari (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Sai Sudharsan, Ricky Bhui (wicket-keeper), KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), R Samarth, Washington Sundar, Sachin Baby, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Sai Kishore, V Kaverappa, V Vyshak, KV Sasikanth, Darshan Misal, and Tilak Varma.
Northeast Zone squad
Northeast Zone: Rongsen Jonathan (captain), Nilesh Lamichaney, Kishan Lyngdoh, Langlonyamba, AR Ahlawat, Joseph Lalthankhuma, Prafullamani (wicket-keeper), Dippu Sangma, Jotin Pheiroijam, Imliwati Lemtur, Palzor Tamang, Kishan Sinha, Akash Kumar Choudhary, and Rajkumar Rex Singh, Nagaho Chishi. Reserves: Lee Yong Lepcha, Nabam Abo, and Dika Ralte.
East Zone squad
East Zone: Abhimanyu Easwaran (captain), Santanu Mishra, Sudip Gharami, Riyan Parag, A Majumdar, Bipin Saurabh, A Porel (wicket-keeper), K Kushagra (wicket-keeper), Shahbaz Nadeem, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Anukul Roy, M Mura Singh, and Ishan Porel.
North Zone squad
North Zone: Mandeep Singh (captain), Prashant Chopra, Dhruv Shorey, Manan Vohra, Prabhsimran Singh, Ankit Kumar, AS Kalsi, Harshit Rana, Abid Mushtaq, Jayant Yadav, Pulkit Narang, Nishant Sandhu, Sidharth Kaul, Vaibhav Arora, and Baltej Singh. Standby players: Mayank Dagar, Mayank Markande, Ravi Chauhan, Anmol Mahotra, Nehal Wadhera, Diwesh Pathania, Divij Mehra, and Kunal Mahajan.
Central Zone squad
Central Zone: Shivam Mavi (captain), Vivek Singh, Himanshu Mantri, Kunal Chandela, Shubham Sharma, Amandeep Khare, Rinku Singh, Akshay Wadkar, Upendra Yadav, Dhruv Jurel, Saurabh Kumar, Manav Sathar, Saransh Jain, Avesh Khan, and Yash Thakur.
Who won the tournament in 2022?
The Ajinkya Rahane-led West Zone trounced South Zone by 294 runs to win the 2022/23 Duleep Trophy. Yashasvi bagged the Player of the Match award for clocking a sensational double-ton (265). Meanwhile, left-armer Jaydev Unadkat snared the Player of the Series title. Chasing 529, South Zone couldn't hold long enough on Day 5 to eventually lose the duel.
