The 2026-27 season of Indian domestic cricket will begin with the Duleep Trophy. This first-class tournament will begin on August 23rd. The final will be played between September 6th and 10th. All matches will be held at the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru.
This time, the Duleep Trophy will also feature young sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who has been named vice-captain of the East Zone. Along with him, big stars like Ishan Kishan, Mohammed Shami, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajat Patidar, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, and Arshdeep Singh will also be seen in the tournament.
What is the format of Duleep Trophy 2026?
The tournament will once again be played in a zonal format, with six teams from different regions of the country participating. There will be a total of five matches. In the opening round, East Zone will face North-East Zone, while North Zone will face West Zone. Last year’s champions, Central Zone, have received a bye, allowing them to advance directly to the semifinals. Runner-up South Zone will also play directly in the semifinals.
Who are the captains?
East Zone will be captained by Ishan Kishan, while Central Zone will be led by Rajat Patidar. West Zone will be led by Ruturaj Gaikwad. Tilak Verma has been appointed as the captain of South Zone. Jammu and Kashmir wicketkeeper Kanhaiya Wadhawan has been appointed as the captain of North Zone. Northeast Zone has not announced its captain.
Duleep Trophy 2026 schedule
- Match 1 – East Zone vs North-East Zone, August 23-26, 9:30 AM IST, CoE Ground 2
- Match 2 – North Zone vs West Zone, August 23-26, 9:30 AM IST, CoE Ground 1
- Semi-final 1 – Central Zone vs TBC, August 30-September 2, 9:30 AM IST, CoE Ground 1
- Semi-final 2 – South Zone vs TBC, August 30-September 2, 9:30 AM IST, CoE Ground 2
- Final – TBC vs TBC, September 6-10, 9:30 AM IST, CoE Ground 1
Squads of all teams for Duleep Trophy 2026
Central Zone: Rajat Patidar (captain), Rinku Singh (vice-captain), Aryan Juyal (wicketkeeper), Saransh Jain, Aman Mokhade, Kunal Chandela, Zeeshan Ansari, Aryan Pandey, Arshad Khan, Ayush Pandey, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Kunal Singh Rathod (wicketkeeper), Yash Thakur and Nachiket Bhute.
South Zone: Tilak Varma (captain), Ricky Bhui (vice-captain), Abhinav Tejarana, Sheikh Rasheed, Kodimela Himateja, Ravichandran Smran, N Jagadeesan, Karun Nair, T Thyagarajan, Shreyas Gopal, K Sai Teja, T Vijay, V Kaverappa, Aman Khan, MD Nidheesh
East Zone: Ishan Kishan (captain), Vaibhav Suryawanshi (vice-captain), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sudip Gharami, Shahbaz Ahmed, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Kumar Kushagra (wicketkeeper), Shikhar Mohan, Anukul Roy, Virat Singh, Subhranshu Senapati, Danish Das, Abhijit Sarkar.
West Zone: Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Shams Mulani (vice-captain), Prithvi Shaw, Harvik Desai (wicketkeeper), Urvil Patel (wicketkeeper), Shivalik Sharma, Mushir Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Jaymeet Patel, Siddharth Desai, Tanush Kotian, Tushar Deshpande, Shardul Thakur, Atit Seth (Baroda), Mukesh Choudhary.
North Zone: Kanhaiya Wadhawan (Captain), Ayush Badoni (Vice-Captain), Sanat Sangwan, Kamran Iqbal, Yash Dhull, Ayush Doseja, Abdul Samad, Nishant Sindhu, Arjun Sharma, Abid Mushtaq, Arshdeep Singh, Sunil Kumar, Anshul Kamboj, Yudhvir Singh and Nikhil Kashyap.
North-East Zone: Techi Neri, Robin Limbu, Bishworjit Singh Konthoujam, Imliwati Lemtur, Kishan Lindoh, Joseph Lal Thankhuma, Arpit Subhash, Priyojit K, Ronald Meitei, Akash Kumar Choudhary, Vino G Zhimomi, Lalrempuia, Jonathan Rongsen, Jotin Singh Pheroijam, Ashish Thapa.