India's domestic first-class cricket tournaments Duleep Trophy 2026 The 63rd edition of the IPL is going to start from 23rd August. A total of 6 teams are participating in this prestigious tournament of domestic cricket, which include Central Zone, East Zone, North Zone, North East Zone, South Zone and West Zone. This time many veteran and young players will be seen playing in the tournament, in which everyone's special eyes are on the East Zone team captained by Ishan Kishan and the young sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi. At the same time, the command of the Central Zone is in the hands of Rajat Patidar, while Tilak Verma is captaining the South Zone and Ruturaj Gaikwad is handling the captaincy of the West Zone.
Why did Central Zone and South Zone get direct semi-final tickets?
This question must be coming in the minds of cricket fans that while other teams will have to go through the knockout round, how did the teams of Central Zone and South Zone get direct entry into the semi-finals?
-
Rules and past performance: According to the format of the Duleep Trophy this time, the finalist teams of last year i.e. the previous season are directly given a place in the semi-finals.
-
Defending champions and runners-up: In the final match of last season, Central Zone won the title brilliantly by defeating South Zone. On this basis, this time both the Central Zone and South Zone teams have got direct tickets for the semi-finals, due to which they will directly compete in the last-4 without playing the quarterfinals.
Complete format and schedule of Duleep Trophy 2026
This time the tournament is being played on Single-Elimination Format, in which a total of 5 matches (including the final) will be played:
-
Quarterfinal matches (23 to 26 August):
-
Quarterfinal 1: East Zone vs North East Zone (BCCI COE Ground 2)
-
Quarterfinal 2: North Zone vs West Zone (BCCI COE Ground 1)
-
-
Semi-final matches (30 August to 2 September):
-
Semifinal 1: Central Zone vs Winner of 1st Quarterfinal (BCCI COE Ground 1)
-
Semifinal 2: South Zone vs Winner of 2nd Quarterfinal (BCCI COE Ground 2)
-
-
Grand Final – Final (6 to 10 September):
-
Harsh Goenka Praises Ahmedabad's Kitchen CCTV Initiative, Says Time To Take This Pan-India?
-
Future Essential Artificial Intelligence, Special Conclave organized at AOT
-
Government's answer to rising sugar prices, is E20 and ethanol blending responsible?
-
Vaibhav Suryavanshi will be seen in Duleep Trophy, how is the first class record?
-
Basketball thrill in Lucknow, APS Gorakhpur won the title; Won title with 42-15 victory
