Duleep Trophy starts from Jan 27

The 51st edition of the Duleep Trophy, India's premier inter-zonal cricket tournament, gets underway from January 27, with a quarter-final match between East Zone and West Zone at Valsad.

The winner of this match will play North Zone in the semi-final, at Delhi, from Feb 4 to Feb 7.

Central Zone and defending champions South Zone will play the other semi-final at Chennai on the same days.

The final will be played at Indore from Feb 12 to Feb 16.

Shaun George from South Africa will be one of the umpires in the Delhi semi final and the Final.

He will be travelling to India as part of the Umpires Exchange Programme between the BCCI and CSA.

North Zone have won the tournament the maximum number of times - 16. They also shared the trophy once, with West Zone in 1988-89.

West Zone came second with 15 triumphs. In addition to sharing the trophy with North Zone in 1988-89, West Zone also shared the title with South Zone and Central Zone in 1963-64 and 1997-98 respectively.

South Zone have won the title 11 times, and Central Zone have won it on four occasions. East Zone are yet to open their account.

The tournament underwent a change in 2002-03, when the zonal sides were replaced with five teams. picked on the basis of performances in the Elite and Plate Divisions of the Ranji Trophy.

The teams were named Elite A, Elite B, Elite C, Plate A and Plate B respectively. Elite C won the title. The tournament reverted to the inter-zonal format in the subsequent season.

The tournament involved a team from overseas, from 2003-04 to 2007-08. England A participated in 2003-04, Bangladesh Cricket Board XI in 2004-05, Zimbabwe President's XI in 2005-06, Sri Lanka A in 2006-07, and England Lions in 2007-08.