The ultimate of the Duleep Trophy will now not be performed on the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. The board secretary, Devajit Saikia, on Wednesday confirmed that the summit conflict of the premier home competitors will now be performed on the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai to accommodate spectators. The 2026-27 version of the Duleep Trophy is slated to start on the CoE on August 23. Whereas the primary two rounds will stay closed to spectators, the ultimate will now be open to followers to attend in individual.
Confirming the event of the Duleep Trophy ultimate being shifted to Chennai, the BCCI secretary advised Hindustan Occasions Digital, “Sure, the ultimate has been moved in order that followers may attend the match.”
The BCCI, in a media launch, additionally confirmed that each one the Duleep Trophy matches could be streamed reside. “We’ve additionally elevated protection of the event and all matches of the Duleep Trophy might be streamed reside, and there will even be TV protection of 1 quarter-final, one semi-final and the ultimate,” the BCCI secretary stated in an official media launch later.
The primary spherical of the Duleep Trophy 2026-27 is scheduled to start on August 23, whereas the second spherical will start on August 30. Each rounds might be performed with out spectators. The ultimate might be performed from September 6 to 10 in Chennai.
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The difficulty of spectator entry had already change into a speaking level through the earlier version of the event. The 2025-26 Duleep Trophy was staged on the CoE, with supporters unable to attend the matches. The opening spherical additionally didn’t obtain tv protection, leaving followers with restricted alternatives to observe the home competitors.
Earlier this month, the BCCI secretary, Saikia, responded to those issues, confirming that the 2026-27 event could have a larger share of matches broadcast on tv, giving home cricket larger visibility. The opportunity of shifting the ultimate to a stadium with spectator amenities was additionally addressed at the moment.
“There are some authorities restrictions on how we use this land, and due to that, we can not have crowds on this campus,” Saikia had advised reporters.
“However this 12 months, we now have elevated the variety of matches to be telecast. That manner, we’re giving followers the possibility to observe their favorite gamers and groups. We undoubtedly admire your suggestion to see whether or not the ultimate may be hosted in a stadium. We nonetheless have time, and we’ll look into that facet,” he added.
All you want to know in regards to the format
With the Duleep Trophy 2026-27, India’s home zone will start. The competitors will go forward within the zonal format. The Central Zone, which received the final version, obtained an earlier bye and was then positioned immediately within the semifinals.
In the meantime, final 12 months’s runners-up, the South Zone, have additionally obtained a direct semi-final spot. The South, North, East and North East zones will compete within the preliminary spherical.
Full schedule
Match 1: East Zone vs North-East Zone, August 23-26 at 9:30 AM, COE Floor 2
Match 2: North Zone vs West Zone, August 23-26 at 9:30 AM, COE Floor 1
Semifinal 1: Central Zone vs TBC, August 30-September 2 at 9:30 AM, COE Floor 1
Semifinal 2: South Zone vs TBC, August 30-September 2 at 9:30 AM, COE Floor 2
Ultimate: TBC vs TBC, September 6-10 at 9:30 AM, MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai
Listed below are all of the squads:
South Zone: Tilak Varma (captain), Ricky Bhui, Abhinav Tejrana, Shaik Rasheed, Ok. Himateja, R. Smaran, N. Jagadeesan, Karun Nair, Tanay Thyagarajan, Shreyas Gopal, Ok. Sai Teja, Tripurana Vijay, Vidwath Kaverappa, Aman Khan, M.D. Nideesh.
East Zone: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sudip Gharami, Shahbaz Ahmed, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Ishan Kishan (captain), Kumar Kushagra, Shikhar Mohan, Anukul Roy, Virat Singh, Subhranshu Senapati, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Denish Das, Abhijit Sarkar.
Central Zone: Rajat Patidar (captain), Rinku Singh, Aryan Juyal, Saransh Jain, Aman Mokhade, Kunal Chandela, Zeeshan Ansari, Aryan Pandey, Arshad Khan, Ayush Pandey, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Kunal Singh Rathod, Yash Thakur and Nachiket Bhute.
North-East Zone: Techi Neri, Robin Limboo, Bishworjit Singh Konthoujam, Imliwati Lemtur, Kishan Lyndoh, Joseph Lal Thankhuma, Arpit Subhas, Priyojit Ok, Ronald Meitei, Akash Kumar Choudhary, Vino G. Zhimomi, Lalrempuia, Jonathan Rongsen, Jotin Singh Pheiroijam, Ashish Thapa.
West Zone: Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Shams Mulani, Prithvi Shaw, Harvik Desai, Shivalik Sharma, Musheer Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Jaymeet Patel, Urvil Patel, Siddharth Desai, Tanush Kotian, Shardul Thakur, Atit Seth, Tushar Deshpande and Mukesh Chaudhary.
North Zone: Sanat Sangwan, Qamran Iqbal, Yash Dhull, Ayush Doseja, Abdul Samad, Ayush Badoni, Kanhaiya Wadhawan (captain), Nishant Sindhu, Arjun Sharma, Abid Mushtaq, Arshdeep Singh, Sunil Kumar, Anshul Kamboj, Yudhvir Singh and Nikhil Kashyap.
