The Duleep Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket competition in India. Named after former cricketer Duleepsinhji, the competition has usually been contested by teams representing various geographical zones of India since the first tournament in 1961–62. There have been a few exceptions to the zonal format, such as the 2002–03 tournament, where five teams were formed based on Ranji Trophy groups, and the four editions held between 2016–17 and 2019–20, when the BCCI selected three teams called India Blue, Red and Green. The 2024-25 edition featured four teams named Team A, B, C and D, while the 2025–26 and 2026–27 editions reverted to a six-team zonal format.
History The competition was established by the BCCI in the 1961–62 season. The tournament was contested between the different geographical zones of India namely, North, South, East, West and Central. The inaugural tournament was won by West Zone who defeated South Zone in the final by ten wickets. In the 1962–63 season, four of the five teams except Central Zone included a West Indies Test cricketer as a part of the teams.
The original format was that the five teams played each other on a knock-out basis. From the 1993–94 season, the competition converted to a league format before moving back to the knock-out format for four seasons. The tournament again reverted to a league format for three seasons from 2000–01. For the 2002–03 season, the zonal teams were replaced by five teams representing respective Ranji Trophy groups but the format lasted only one season. From the 2003–04 season, the five original zonal teams competed along with a sixth guest team which was a touring foreign team. The first guest team was England A in 2003–04. From the 2009–10 season, the guest team was dropped, with the original five-team knockout tournament being used until the 2014–15 season.
The championship was not held in 2015–16 but returned to in 2016–17 with a new format where three teams chosen by the BCCI took part, designated as Blue, Green and Red. The teams played a round-robin tournament, with the top two advancing to the final. All games were staged as day-night games and used pink cricket balls. The trophy was cancelled for three seasons due to COVID-19 and the zonal format returned when it was re-started in 2022–23 with the original five zonal teams joined by a new North East Zone.
The 2024–25 format deviated from recent editions by featuring four teams: India A, India B, India C, and India D, instead of the traditional zonal teams. The tournament followed a round-robin format with no knockout stage. The team with the maximum points at the end of the round-robin stage won the tournament. The teams were composed of a mix of experienced and emerging players selected by national selectors.
+TeamCaptainsCaptained by Shubman Gill (later replaced by Mayank Agarwal due to international duties)India BCaptained by Abhimanyu EaswaranIndia CCaptained by Ruturaj GaikwadIndia DCaptained by Shreyas Iyer.
The 2026–27 edition, the tournament's 63rd, reverted to a six-team, single-elimination format contested between the original five zones and North East Zone, running from 23 August to 10 September 2026. Defending champions Central Zone and 2025–26 runners-up South Zone received byes directly to the semi-finals, while the remaining four zones played off in the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals, North Zone beat West Zone by 52 runs, while East Zone beat North East Zone by an innings and 210 runs. East Zone then knocked out defending champions Central Zone by four wickets in the first semi-final, while South Zone beat North Zone by seven wickets in the second, setting up a final between East Zone and South Zone at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, from 6 September 2026. Set at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, the final ended in a draw after East Zone, sent in to bat, posted 708 in their first innings—built around captain Ishan Kishan's 270—and held a 372-run lead over South Zone's 336; East Zone were declared champions on first-innings lead, claiming their third title and their first since 2011–12.
Composition of teams Under the usual zonal system, each team is a composite of cricketers who play for the Ranji Trophy teams situated in that region of India:
North Zone Chandigarh Delhi Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & 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 East Zone Assam Bihar Bengal Jharkhand Odisha Tripura North East Zone Arunachal Pradesh Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim West Zone Baroda Gujarat Maharashtra Mumbai Saurashtra
Winners West Zone, with 19 trophies, is the most successful team in the competition. SeasonFinalWinnerResultFinal venue 1961–62 South ZoneWest Zone won by 10 wicketsBrabourne Stadium, Bombay 1962–63 West ZoneSouth ZoneEden Gardens, Calcutta 1963–64 West Zone & South Zone (shared)DrawFeroz Shah Kotla, Delhi 1964–65 West ZoneCentral ZoneWest Zone won by an innings and 89 runsBrabourne Stadium, Bombay 1965–66 Central ZoneSouth Zone won by an innings and 20 runsMA Chidambaram Stadium, Madras 1966–67 South ZoneWest ZoneDraw, South Zone won by first innings leadBrabourne Stadium, Bombay 1967–68 South ZoneWest ZoneDraw, South Zone won by first innings leadBrabourne Stadium, Bombay 1968–69 West ZoneSouth ZoneDraw, West Zone won by first innings leadLal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad 1969–70 West ZoneNorth ZoneWest Zone won by an innings and 81 runsSardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad 1970–71 South ZoneEast ZoneSouth Zone won by 10 wicketsBrabourne Stadium, Bombay 1971–72 West ZoneCentral Zone by 2 wicketsCentral College Ground, Bangalore 1972–73 West ZoneCentral ZoneWest Zone won by an innings and 172 runsBrabourne Stadium, Bombay 1973–74 Central ZoneNorth Zone won by 76 runsBrabourne Stadium, Bombay 1974–75 South ZoneWest ZoneSouth Zone won by 9 wicketsLal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad 1975–76 South ZoneNorth ZoneSouth Zone won by 37 runsMA Chidambaram Stadium, Madras 1976–77 West ZoneNorth ZoneWest Zone won by 9 wicketsMoti Bagh Stadium, Baroda 1977–78 West ZoneNorth ZoneDraw, West Zone won by first innings leadWankhede Stadium, Bombay 1978–79 North ZoneWest ZoneDraw, North Zone won by first innings leadFeroz Shah Kotla, Delhi 1979–80 North ZoneWest ZoneNorth Zone won by 104 runsWankhede Stadium, Bombay 1980–81 West ZoneEast ZoneDraw, West Zone won by first innings leadEden Gardens, Calcutta 1981–82 West ZoneEast ZoneDraw, West Zone won by first innings leadBrabourne Stadium, Bombay 1982–83 North ZoneSouth ZoneNorth Zone won by 8 wicketsWankhede Stadium, Bombay 1983–84 North ZoneWest ZoneDraw, North Zone won by first innings leadBarabati Stadium, Cuttack 1984–85 South ZoneNorth ZoneSouth Zone won by 73 runsFeroz Shah Kotla, Delhi 1985–86 West ZoneSouth ZoneWest Zone by 9 wicketsM.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore 1986–87 South ZoneWest ZoneDraw, South Zone won by first innings leadWankhede Stadium, Bombay 1987–88 North ZoneWest ZoneDraw, North Zone won by first innings leadJayanti Stadium, Bhilai 1988–89 North Zone & West Zone (shared)DrawFeroz Shah Kotla, Delhi 1989–90 South ZoneCentral ZoneSouth Zone won by 322 runsGymkhana Ground, Secunderabad 1990–91 North ZoneWest ZoneDraw, North Zone won by first innings leadKeenan Stadium, Jamshedpur 1991–92 North ZoneWest ZoneNorth Zone won by 236 runsSardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium, Valsad 1992–93 North ZoneCentral ZoneDraw, North Zone won by first innings leadLal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad 1993–94 North ZoneWest ZoneRound RobinNA 1994–95 North ZoneSouth ZoneRound RobinNA 1995–96 South ZoneCentral ZoneRound RobinNA 1996–97 Central ZoneSouth ZoneCentral Zone won by 161 runsPunjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali 1997–98 Central Zone & West Zone (shared)DrawMA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai 1998–99 Central ZoneWest ZoneCentral Zone won by 122 runsN2 Stadium, Aurangabad 1999–2000 North ZoneWest ZoneDraw, North Zone won by first innings leadEden Gardens, Kolkata 2000–01 North ZoneCentral ZoneRound RobinNA 2001–02 West ZoneNorth ZoneRound RobinNA 2002–03 Elite CRound RobinNA 2003–04 North ZoneEast ZoneNorth Zone won by 59 runsPunjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali 2004–05 Central ZoneNorth ZoneCentral Zone won by nine wicketsVidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur 2005–06 West ZoneEast ZoneWest Zone won by five wicketsSardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad 2006–07 North ZoneSri Lanka ANorth Zone won by eight wicketsEden Gardens, Kolkata 2007–08 North ZoneWest ZoneNorth Zone won by six wicketsWankhede Stadium, Mumbai 2008–09 West ZoneSouth ZoneWest Zone won by 274 runsMA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai 2009–10 West ZoneSouth ZoneWest Zone won by three wickets Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad 2010–11 South ZoneNorth ZoneSouth Zone won by seven wicketsACA-VDCA Stadium, Visakhapatnam 2011–12 East ZoneCentral ZoneEast Zone won by an innings and 20 runsHolkar Cricket Stadium, Indore 2012–13 East ZoneCentral ZoneDraw, East Zone won by first innings leadM. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai 2013–14 North Zone & South Zone (shared)DrawJawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi 2014–15 Central ZoneSouth ZoneCentral Zone won by 9 runsFeroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi 2016–17 India Blue India Red India Blue won by 355 runs Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground, Greater Noida 2017–18 India Red India Blue India Red won by 163 runs Lucknow International Cricket Stadium, Lucknow 2018–19 India Blue India Red India Blue won by an innings and 187 runs NPR College Ground, Dindigul 2019–20 India Red India Green India Red won by an innings and 38 runs M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore 2022–23 West Zone South Zone West Zone won by 294 runs SNR College Cricket Ground, Coimbatore 2023 South Zone West Zone South Zone won by 75 runs M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore 2024–25 India A India C India A won by 132 runsRural Development Trust Stadium 'B', Anantapur2025–26 Central Zone South Zone Central Zone won by 6 wickets BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground, Bengaluru2026–27 East Zone South Zone Draw, East Zone won by first innings leadMA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Statistics Appearances by team Team Matches Win LossDraw West Zone 115 58 35 22 2026North Zone 114 53 34 27 2026South Zone 111 47 4024 2026Central Zone 104 28 46 30 2026East Zone 93 21 46 26 2026India Red 12 4 2 6 2019India Blue 11 2 1 8 2019 India Green 9 0 3 6 2019 Elite Group A 4 1 0 3 2003Elite Group B 4 1 1 2 2003Elite Group C 4 1 0 3 2003Plate Group A 4 0 3 1 2003Plate Group B 4 1 0 3 2003 England A 4 1 3 0 2008Sri Lanka A 3 2 1 0 2006India A32102024India B31112024India C31112024India D31202024 2 0 1 1 2005Zimbabwe Board XI 2 0 2 0 2005North East Zone 4 0 2 2 2026Source: ESPNcricinfo; updated for the 2025–26 season and the completed 2026–27 tournament, including the final
Finals appearances by team Team Wins Appearances Win % West Zone 19 33 57.57 2022/23North Zone 18 26 65.38 2013/14 South Zone 13 25 52.00 2023 7 17 41.18 2025/26East Zone 3 8 37.50 2026/27India Blue 2 3 66.67 2018/19India Red 2 4 50.00 2019/20Elite C 1 1 100.00 2002/03Plate B 0 1 0.00 –Sri Lanka A 0 1 0.00 –India Green 0 1 0.00 – Note: The Wins include the shared trophies and the win percentage counts shared as half a win.
Records and statistics