DOMESTIC CRICKET
South and West Zone teams have been directly seeded into the semifinals. (File pic) © Getty
The Duleep Trophy, now back in its inter-zonal format, will be held in Bengaluru from August 28 to September 15. The matches will be played at the Centre of Excellence grounds and the tournament will follow a knockout format. Six zones – South, Central, West, East, North, and North-East – will participate in the competition, which has reverted to the inter-zonal structure after a one-season gap.
South and West Zone teams have been directly seeded into the semifinals. The two quarterfinals – North Zone vs East Zone and Central Zone vs North-East Zone – will be played from August 28 to 31. The semifinals are scheduled from September 4 to 7, followed by the final starting on September 11.
The tournament was played among sides – called India A, B, C, and D – randomly selected by the national selectors – from the 2016-17 to 2019-20 seasons. It reverted to the zonal model in 2022-23 but switched back to the A-B-C-D format last year. This season, following a BCCI decision at the last AGM, the tournament returns to the zonal framework. The competition was also paused for a couple of seasons due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Irani Cup in Nagpur
Meanwhile, the BCCI has allotted the Irani Cup to Nagpur. With Vidarbha being the defending Ranji Trophy champions, it is only fitting that the five-day annual fixture between the champions and Rest of India will be hosted in their home city.
The key question ahead of the game is whether Karun Nair – who was part of Vidarbha’s title-winning campaign last season – will turn out for the state. Nair has since moved back to Karnataka for the upcoming season, but the South Zone selectors have not selected him for the Duleep Trophy squad.
Rasikh Salam moves to Baroda from J&K
Meanwhile, 26-year-old pacer Rasikh Salam has moved from Jammu & Kashmir to Baroda after securing a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA). In Baroda, he will be joined by Jitesh Sharma, who comes in as a professional, having switched from Vidarbha. On the women’s front, the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) has also signed Shikha Pandey and Poonam Khemmar for its senior team for the upcoming season.
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