The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the complete domestic cricket schedule for the 2025-26 season, introducing new group structures and changes to tournament formats. The season will begin with the Duleep Trophy on August 28, 2025, and run until April 3, 2026, when the Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal Multi-Day Trophy concludes the calendar. One of the key updates this year is the revival of zonal selections for the Duleep Trophy and the Senior Women’s Challenger Trophy, with six zonal teams competing instead of squads picked by national selectors. To improve competitiveness in limited overs tournaments, the bottom six teams from last season will now play in a Plate Group across age categories. The promotion and relegation system has also been tweaked, with only one team moving up or down between the Elite and Plate groups each season.
The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Senior Women’s T20 Trophy will see a Super League stage replacing the traditional knockout phase, while the Vijay Hazare Trophy and other major tournaments will adopt a four Elite Groups and one Plate Group format. For most junior and women’s events in the Under-16, Under-19 and Under-23 categories, a five Elite plus one Plate group system will be followed.The Duleep Trophy will run from August 28 to September 15 with the final set to be played at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.The Irani Cup will take place in Nagpur from October 1 to 5.The Ranji Trophy will be played in two phases — the first from October 15 to November 19 and the second from January 22 to February 1. The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will begin its league matches on November 26 and conclude on December 8 in cities including Lucknow, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata, with the knockout stage in Indore from December 12 to 18.The Vijay Hazare Trophy league will be held from December 24 to January 8 in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Jaipur and Bangalore, while the knockouts will be staged from January 12 to 18 at the Centre of Excellence.Quiz: Who’s that IPL player? The BCCI has also finalised the groups for all major tournaments. Teams like Vidarbha, Tamil Nadu, Mumbai, Karnataka and Delhi have been placed in the Elite categories for the Ranji Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy, while teams such as Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh will compete in the Plate Group. With these changes, the board aims to raise the standard of competition and ensure a balanced opportunity for teams at all levels across the country.