The Deodhar Trophy is a List A cricket tournament of India that was first held in 1973-74. It is named after Dinkar Balwant Deodhar, the Grand Old Man of Indian Cricket.
D.B.Deodhar was one of the few cricketers who was active in national cricket before the first World War and after the second World War. He was the first cricketer representing India who turned 100 years old in 1992. In 1993, the Grand Old Man of Indian Cricket breathed his last.
The Deodar Trophy began as an inter-zonal tournament between five teams. Two zones would hold a one-off quarter-final, the winner of which would join the remaining three teams in a routine knock-out format. This format continued till the 2014-15 season.
In the 2015-16 season, the tournament was played between India A, India B and the team that won the Vijay Hazare Trophy that season. This format remained till 2017-18.
Since the 2018-19 season, the Deodhar Trophy is played between three teams – India A, India B and India C. Players of each of these teams are chosen by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). These teams would play each other in a round-robin format. The top two teams would face each make the finals.
The tournament was not been held between 2020 to 2022 due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Deodhar Trophy will now make a comeback in 2023, with the inter-zonal format being revived. The six competing zones are Central Zone, East Zone, West Zone, North Zone, South Zone, North East Zone.
