The final of the Duleep Trophy will no longer be played at 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 clash of the premier domestic competition will now be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai to accommodate spectators. The 2026-27 edition of the Duleep Trophy is slated to begin at the CoE on August 23. While the first two rounds will remain closed to spectators, the final will now be open to fans to attend in person.
Confirming the development of the Duleep Trophy final being shifted to Chennai, the BCCI secretary told Hindustan Times Digital, “Yes, the final has been moved so that fans could attend the match.”
The first round of the Duleep Trophy 2026-27 is scheduled to begin on August 23, while the second round will begin on August 30. Both rounds will be played without spectators. The final will be played from September 6 to 10 in Chennai.
The issue of spectator access had already become a talking point during the previous edition of the tournament. The 2025-26 Duleep Trophy was staged at the CoE, with supporters unable to attend the matches. The opening round also did not receive television coverage, leaving fans with limited opportunities to follow the domestic competition.
Earlier this month, the BCCI secretary, Saikia, responded to these concerns, confirming that the 2026-27 tournament will have a greater share of matches broadcast on television, giving domestic cricket greater visibility. The possibility of moving the final to a stadium with spectator facilities was also addressed at that time.
“There are some government restrictions on how we use this land, and because of that, we cannot have crowds in this campus,” Saikia had told reporters.
“But this year, we have increased the number of matches to be telecast. That way, we are giving fans the chance to watch their favourite players and teams. We definitely appreciate your suggestion to see whether the final can be hosted in a stadium. We still have time, and we’ll look into that aspect,” he added.
All you need to know about the format
With the Duleep Trophy 2026-27, India’s domestic zone will begin. The competition will go ahead in the zonal format. The Central Zone, which won the last edition, received an earlier bye and was then placed directly in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, last year’s runners-up, the South Zone, have also received a direct semi-final spot. The South, North, East and North East zones will compete in the initial round.
Full schedule
Match 1: East Zone vs North-East Zone, August 23-26 at 9:30 AM, COE Ground 2
Match 2: North Zone vs West Zone, August 23-26 at 9:30 AM, COE Ground 1
Semifinal 1: Central Zone vs TBC, August 30-September 2 at 9:30 AM, COE Ground 1
Semifinal 2: South Zone vs TBC, August 30-September 2 at 9:30 AM, COE Ground 2
Final: TBC vs TBC, September 6-10 at 9:30 AM, MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai
Here are all the squads:
South Zone: Tilak Varma (captain), Ricky Bhui, Abhinav Tejrana, Shaik Rasheed, K. Himateja, R. Smaran, N. Jagadeesan, Karun Nair, Tanay Thyagarajan, Shreyas Gopal, K. 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 K, 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.
