Is the Duleep Trophy Returning to a Zonal Format with India's Schedule for the White-Ball Series Against NZ?

New Delhi, June 14 (NationPress) Following a recent meeting, the Apex Council of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) declared that the 2025/26 domestic season will commence with the Duleep Trophy on August 28 and wrap up with the Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal Multi-Day Trophy on April 3, 2026.

In a significant change, the Duleep Trophy and Senior Women’s Challenger events will now be held among six zonal teams chosen by zonal selectors, moving away from the previous system where the national selection committee was in charge. For the upcoming season, teams will revert to being selected by the Zonal Selection Committee, adhering to traditional methods.

The Apex Council also introduced a restructuring of the Plate Group across age categories. Under this new system, the lowest six teams based on prior season rankings will be assigned to the plate group for limited-overs competitions, with a single team being promoted or relegated between the Elite and Plate groups moving forward.

The esteemed Ranji Trophy will continue to be conducted over two phases in the 2025/26 domestic calendar. The initial phase is set to begin on October 15 and conclude on November 19, while the second phase commences on January 22.

In tournament updates, the Apex Council announced that the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Senior Women’s T20 Trophy will feature a Super League stage rather than the traditional knockout format. Each participating team will compete in three league matches, with the top team from Groups A and B advancing to the final.

Concerning new tournament group structures, major competitions such as the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Senior Women’s One Day Trophy, and Men’s U23 State A Trophy will adopt a model of four Elite Groups plus one Plate Group. In contrast, most junior and women’s tournaments (U16, U19, U23) will transition to a five Elite plus one Plate group structure.

Additionally, the BCCI Apex Council has sanctioned the venues for India’s upcoming white-ball home series against New Zealand, scheduled for early 2026. The matches will take place in Vadodara, Rajkot, and Indore on January 11, 14, and 18, respectively.

Five T20Is will be hosted in Nagpur, Raipur, Guwahati, Visakhapatnam, and Thiruvananthapuram from January 21 to 31. These T20I matches are crucial preparatory games for both India and New Zealand ahead of the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be held in India and Sri Lanka.

Ranji Trophy Groups for the 2025-26 season:

Elite A: Tamil Nadu, Baroda, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra, Nagaland

Elite B: Saurashtra, Chandigarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Goa

Elite C: Gujarat, Haryana, Services, Bengal, Railways, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Assam

Elite D: Mumbai, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Hyderabad, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry

Plate: Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Manipur, Arunachal

India vs New Zealand men’s white-ball series schedule:

ODIs: Vadodara (January 11), Rajkot (January 14), Indore (January 18)

T20Is: Nagpur (January 21), Raipur (January 23), Guwahati (January 25), Visakhapatnam (January 28), Thiruvananthapuram (January 31)