BCCI announced 2025-26 domestic cricket season: Full schedule, group, date and major changes. Cricket news
The Control Board for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced a complete domestic cricket schedule for the 2025-26 season, which has led to a change in new group structures and tournament formats. The season will begin on August 28, 2025 with the Dalip Trophy, and will run until 3 April, 2026, when the senior female concludes the inter-zonal multi-day trophy calendar. One of the major updates of this year is a revival of zonal choices for the Duleep Trophy and Senior Women’s Challenger Trophy, which compete six zonal teams rather than squads selected by national selectors. To improve competition in limited -overs tournaments, the last season’s lower six teams will now play in a plate group in the age group. The promotion and reconsideration system has also been held, in which only one team goes up or down between the elite and plate groups in each season.
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Senior Women’s T20 Trophy will be seen instead of traditional knockout phase on a super league stage, while Vijay Hazare Trophy and other major tournaments will adopt one four elite groups and a plate group format. For most junior and women’s events in under -16, under -19 and under -23 categories, a five elite plus a plat group system will be followed.Duleep Trophy From August 28 to September 15, it will run with the last set to be played at the Center for Excellence in Bengaluru.Iranian cup It will be held in Nagpur from 1 to 5 October.Ranji Trophy It will be played in two phases – first from 15 October to 19 November and second from 22 January to 1 February. Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Will start their league matches on 26 November and end on 8 December in cities including Lucknow, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata with a knockout stage in Indore on December 12.Vijay Hazare Trophy The league will be held from 24 December to 8 January in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Jaipur and Bangalore, while the knockout will be staged at the Center for Excellence from 12 to 18 January.Quiz: Who is that IPL player? BCCI has also finalized groups for all major tournaments. Teams like Vidarbha, Tamil Nadu, Mumbai, Karnataka and Delhi have been placed in the elite categories for Ranji Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy, while teams of teams of teams like Meghlaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Manipur and Arunchal will be compared. With these changes, the board aims to increase the standard of competition and ensure a balanced opportunity for teams at all levels across the country.
