The BCCI, on Saturday, released the complete Indian domestic cricket 2025-26 season schedule.
The domestic cricket season will begin in late August with the Duleep Trophy, which reverts to its earlier zonal format featuring six teams - North, South, East, West, Central and North-East. The final will be held in Bengaluru on September 15.
This marks a shift from the 2024-25 edition, where teams were selected as India A, B, C, and D by the senior men’s national selectors.
The Ranji Trophy season will be conducted from October 2025 to February next year.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has announced some notable format changes for the season’s white-ball tournaments.
The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy will now include a dedicated Plate Group consisting of the bottom six teams based on last season’s performances in addition to the Elite Group.
This model has also been extended across junior-level tournaments. Additionally, the promotion and relegation system has been revised.
Only one team will now move between the Elite and Plate groups each season from now on, instead of two Plate finalists being promoted as in previous years.
The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will also reintroduce the Super League stage. The top two teams from each of the four Elite groups will qualify for a second round-robin phase, split into two groups of four.
The same structure will also be used in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy.
India domestic cricket 2025-26 season schedule
Tournament | Start Date | End Date | Knockout Start | Knockout End | League Venues | Knockout Venues |
Duleep Trophy | – | – | August 28, 2025 | September 15, 2025 | – | COE, Bengaluru |
Irani Cup | – | – | October 1, 2025 | October 5, 2025 | – | Nagpur / Neutral |
Ranji Trophy (Elite) | Phase 1: October 15, 2025 Phase 2: January 22, 2026 | Phase 1: November 19, 2025 Phase 2: February 1, 2026 | February 6, 2026 | February 28, 2026 | Home/Away | Home/Away |
Ranji Trophy (Plate) | October 15, 2025 | November 19, 2025 | January 22, 2026 | January 26, 2026 | Home/Away | Home/Away |
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (Elite) | November 26, 2025 | December 8, 2025 | December 12, 2025 | December 18, 2025 | Lucknow, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata | Indore |
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (Plate) | November 26, 2025 | December 4, 2025 | December 6, 2025 | December 6, 2025 | Pune | Pune |
Vijay Hazare Trophy (Elite) | December 24, 2025 | January 8, 2026 | January 12, 2026 | January 18, 2026 | Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Jaipur, Bangalore | COE |
Vijay Hazare Trophy (Plate) | December 24, 2025 | January 3, 2026 | January 6, 2026 | January 6, 2026 | Ranchi | Ranchi |
Col. C.K. Nayudu Trophy (Elite) | Phase 1: October 16, 2025 Phase 2: January 23, 2026 | Phase 1: November 5, 2025 Phase 2: February 16, 2026 | February 21, 2026 | March 12, 2026 | Home/Away | Home/Away |
Col. C.K. Nayudu Trophy (Plate) | Phase 1: October 16, 2025 Phase 2: January 22, 2026 | Phase 1: November 5, 2025 Phase 2: February 2, 2026 | February 6, 2026 | February 9, 2026 | Home/Away | Home/Away |
Men’s U23 State A Trophy (Elite) | November 9, 2025 | November 21, 2025 | November 25, 2025 | December 1, 2025 | Mumbai, Baroda, Jaipur, Ahmedabad | Delhi |
Men’s U23 State A Trophy (Plate) | November 9, 2025 | November 17, 2025 | November 19, 2025 | November 19, 2025 | Punjab | Punjab |
Vinoo Mankad Trophy (Elite) | October 9, 2025 | October 17, 2025 | October 25, 2025 | November 1, 2025 | Haryana, Pondy, Lucknow, Dehradun, Ranchi | Rajkot |
Vinoo Mankad Trophy (Plate) | October 9, 2025 | October 17, 2025 | October 19, 2025 | October 19, 2025 | Chandigarh | Chandigarh |
Men’s U19 One Day Challenger Trophy | November 5, 2025 | November 9, 2025 | November 11, 2025 | November 11, 2025 | Hyderabad | Hyderabad |
Cooch Behar Trophy (Elite) | November 16, 2025 | December 19, 2025 | December 24, 2025 | January 20, 2026 | Home/Away | Home/Away |
Cooch Behar Trophy (Plate) | November 16, 2025 | December 19, 2025 | December 24, 2025 | December 27, 2025 | Home/Away | Home/Away |
Vijay Merchant Trophy (Elite) | December 7, 2025 | December 31, 2025 | January 4, 2026 | January 28, 2026 | Shimoga, Gwalior, Cuttack, Vijayawada, Raipur | Baroda/Anand & Nadiad |
Vijay Merchant Trophy (Plate) | December 7, 2025 | December 31, 2025 | January 4, 2026 | January 7, 2026 | Surat | Surat |
Senior Women’s T20 Trophy (Elite) | October 8, 2025 | October 19, 2025 | October 25, 2025 | October 31, 2025 | Punjab, Delhi, Gwalior, Raipur | Surat |
Senior Women’s T20 Trophy (Plate) | October 8, 2025 | October 15, 2025 | October 17, 2025 | October 17, 2025 | Agartala | Agartala |
Senior Women’s Interzonal T20 | November 4, 2025 | November 12, 2025 | November 14, 2025 | November 14, 2025 | Dimapur | Dimapur |
Senior Women’s One Day Trophy (Elite) | February 6, 2026 | February 18, 2026 | February 22, 2026 | February 28, 2026 | Rajkot, Baroda, Ranchi, Guwahati | Punjab |
Senior Women’s One Day Trophy (Plate) | February 6, 2026 | February 14, 2026 | February 16, 2026 | February 16, 2026 | Cuttack | Cuttack |
Senior Women’s Interzonal One Day | March 5, 2026 | March 13, 2026 | March 15, 2026 | March 15, 2026 | COE | COE |
Senior Women’s Interzonal Multi-Day | – | – | March 20, 2026 | April 3, 2026 | Pondy | Pondy |
Women’s U23 T20 Trophy (Elite) | November 24, 2025 | December 1, 2025 | December 5, 2025 | December 11, 2025 | Chandigarh, Haryana, Trivandrum, Vijayawada, Nagpur | Delhi |
Women’s U23 T20 Trophy (Plate) | November 24, 2025 | December 1, 2025 | December 3, 2025 | December 3, 2025 | Agartala | Agartala |
Women’s U23 One Day Trophy (Elite) | March 3, 2026 | March 11, 2026 | March 15, 2026 | March 22, 2026 | Haryana, Jaipur, Pondy, Pune, Dehradun | Ranchi |
Women’s U23 One Day Trophy (Plate) | March 3, 2026 | March 11, 2026 | March 13, 2026 | March 13, 2026 | Chandigarh | Chandigarh |
Women’s U19 T20 Trophy (Elite) | October 26, 2025 | November 2, 2025 | November 6, 2025 | November 12, 2025 | Pune, Raipur, Mumbai, Nagpur, Cuttack | Kolkata |
Women’s U19 T20 Trophy (Plate) | October 26, 2025 | November 2, 2025 | November 4, 2025 | November 4, 2025 | Lucknow | Lucknow |
Women’s U19 One Day Trophy (Elite) | December 13, 2025 | December 21, 2025 | December 25, 2025 | January 1, 2026 | Mumbai, Lucknow, Baroda, Hyderabad, Trivandrum | Pune |
Women’s U19 One Day Trophy (Plate) | December 13, 2025 | December 21, 2025 | December 23, 2025 | December 23, 2025 | Nagpur | Nagpur |
Women’s U15 One Day Trophy (Elite) | January 2, 2026 | January 10, 2026 | January 14, 2026 | January 21, 2026 | Trivandrum, Vizag, Nagpur, Kolkata, Indore | Pondy |
Women’s U15 One Day Trophy (Plate) | January 2, 2026 | January 10, 2026 | January 12, 2026 | January 12, 2026 | Guwahati | Guwahati |
Vizzy Trophy | March 1, 2026 | March 5, 2026 | March 7, 2026 | March 7, 2026 | Goa | Goa |
Rajasthan features in Elite Groups in all three major tournaments for the season - the Ranji Trophy, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
For the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season, Rajasthan are in Elite Group D with Mumbai, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chhattisgarh and Puducherry.
They also feature in Elite Group D for the 2025 SMAT with Delhi, Saurashtra, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Tripura.
For the Vijay Hazare Trophy, they accompany Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Kerala and Tripura in Elite Group A.
Rajasthan Royals players have consistently made their mark in domestic cricket. Captain Sanju Samson represents Kerala while Riyan Parag has been a stalwart for Assam in recent years. Kunal Singh Rathore has represented Rajasthan in the past.
Kumar Kartikeya is a regular fixture in the Madhya Pradesh setup and played a crucial role in their run to the SMAT final last season. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will be in focus for Bihar while Sandeep Sharma is a veteran campaigner for Chandigarh.
