Duleep Trophy back to zonal format

Ajit Agarkar. Pic/Suresh Karkera

The BCCI Apex Council on Saturday decided to re-introduce the traditional inter-zonal format for the Duleep Trophy - the first-class tournament for six regions.

Last year, the Ajit Agarkar-led national selection committee had picked squads on the basis of players' performance in the Ranji Trophy. However, North, South, East, West, Central and North-East Zones will now compete for the Duleep Trophy title instead of A, B, C and D teams competing in Challenger Trophy format.

From 1961-62 till 2014-15, Duleep Trophy was played as an inter-zonal meet. It was when Rahul Dravid took over as head of NCA in 2015, he suggested to conduct Duleep Trophy in Challenger Trophy format where national selectors would pick India Blue, Red, Green teams.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever