The 2018-19 Indian domestic cricket season will start with the Duleep Trophy as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the schedule on Wednesday. The national One-Day championship, the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Deodhar Trophy have also been scheduled ahead of the Ranji Trophy, which will start November 1 and runs up to February 6, 2019.
BCCI’s schedule sees the Duleep Trophy starting from August 17 and ends on September 8. It will be followed by the Vijay Hazare Trophy from September 19 to October 20. The zonal one-day meet for the Deodhar Trophy will be held from October 23-27.
This domestic season will see a total of 37 teams taking part with the inclusion of 9 new teams. The tournament will have nine teams each in Elite Group A and B while Group C will have 10 teams. The nine new teams — Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim & Uttarakhand — will be placed in the Plate group category.
The top team that qualifies for the quarter-finals from the Plate group will be promoted to Elite Group C in the next season. The top two teams that qualify for the quarter-finals from Elite Group C will be promoted to Elite Group A and B next season. The bottom two teams from Group A and Group B combined will be relegated to Group C in the next season. The team finishing last in Group C will be relegated to Plate Group in the next season.
The Irani Trophy match between the Rest of India and Ranji Trophy winners will be played from Feb 11. The men’s season will end with the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for the 37-team national Twenty20 competition (February 21, 2019, to March 14, 2019).
The senior women’s team will begin their domestic season with the T20 Challenger Trophy which will go on from August 13 till March 13, 2019. This will be followed by the one-day Challenger Trophy and the T20 League.
Domestic schedule:
Men’s:
Duleep Trophy: August 17, 2018 — September 8, 2018
Vijay Hazare Trophy: September 19, 2018 — October 20, 2018
Prof Deodhar Trophy: October 23, 2018 – October 27, 2018
Ranji Trophy: November 1, 2018 — February 6, 2019
Irani Trophy: February 11, 2019 — February 15, 2019
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: February 21, 2019 — March 14, 2019
Women’s:
T20 Challenger Trophy: August 13, 2018 — August 20, 2018
One Day League: December 1, 2018 — December 29, 2018
One Day Challenger Trophy: January 4, 2019 — January 8, 2019
T20 League: February 20, 2019 — March 13, 2019
