New Delhi: Indian cricket over the years has picked up a reputation of being a dominant side in world cricket.
The game that Men In Blue plays has evolved from the iconic clash with ‘The Invincible’ Australian side headed by Don Bradman in 1947 to a series win against the Aussies in 2019 by a bullish Indian side under the leadership of Virat Kohli.
Much of the credit for the success of Indian cricket goes to the fundamental structure of domestic cricket in the country. The rigorous and tough competition at home gives players the courage to perform at any given stage against any given condition.
The Duleep Trophy is one such tournament that is all set to kickstart from September 8 this year after a gap of three seasons. The tournament will include another zone to the older format. The North-East Zone is set to debut with the West, Central, North, East, and South Zone.
BCCI in order to change the age-old format of the Duleep Trophy tried to come up with a robin round format with teams divided into India Red, Green, and Blue teams. However, the change impacted the game as players didn’t get much time to gel with their teammates.
All the matches will be played in Tamil Nadu with Coimbatore hosting the finals of the tournament. East Zone will be led by Bengal’s batsman Manoj Tiwari. Mandeep Singh will lead the North Zone with Dhruv Shorey as vice captain of the side. South Zone will be captained by Hanuma Vihari. Ajinkya Rahane will lead the West Zone. The debutant’s North East Zone camp will be led by Ashish Thapa and Central Zone by Karan Sharma.
North Zone and West Zone have been by far the most successful sides in the tournament with a total of 81 victories in the finals.