Duleep Trophy was once an important pit stop in a cricketer’s journey towards the Indian National team. But now, with the mushrooming of glitzy and faster highways to success like the IPL and India-A, the inter-zonal competition has slid down the importance chart.
As the tournament heralds the beginning of the domestic cricket calendar, players’ first moves will be as important as chess openings. In the inaugural round, the competitive match – at least on paper – is expected to be the North Zone-West Zone encounter. But Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s presence on the adjacent ground, turning out for East versus the North East, will attract enough eyeballs. There is the vice-captaincy burden to carry, for he is Ishan Kishan’s deputy. Defending champion Central and runner-up South have been given byes to the semifinals. The next four days will decide who they will face.
Yet, when the 2026-27 edition starts on Sunday at the BCCI Centre of Excellence here, there will be sufficient interest. The cherubic 15-year-old has a proven T20 game, but the red ball will present twin tests. There are batting numbers to better, for he averages 17.25 from eight First Class matches.