3 Best matches to watch out for in Deodhar Trophy 2023

The Deodhar Trophy returns to the Indian domestic cricket fold in the 2023-24 season after a four-year hiatus. The tournament is named in honor of former Maharashtra player Dinkar Balwant Deodhar, who made 4,522 runs in 81 first-class matches from 1911 to 1948.

Deodhar Trophy is either played in an inter-zonal format or a three-team event in the form of India A, India B, and India C in the 50-over format (List A). The inter-zonal format also marks its return for the first time since the 2014-2015 season.

North Zone, East Zone, West Zone, South Zone, Central Zone, and North East Zone are the six zones to participate in the upcoming List A event, which starts on July 24. The final will be played on August 3, with all matches scheduled in Puducherry.

Let's take a quick look at some of the exciting clashes in the 2023 Deodhar Trophy.

3 Interesting matches to watch in Deodhar Trophy 2023

#3 North Zone vs South Zone

North Zone and South Zone will play in one of the three matches on the opening day of the Deodhar Trophy on July 24 at Cricket Association Puducherry Siechem Ground.

North Zone are the most successful side in the inter-zonal tournament with 13 titles. The team will be led by Delhi's Nitish Rana. Youngsters like Prabhsimran Singh, Vivrant Sharma, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, and Abhishek Sharma will form the core of the North Zone. Mandeep Singh and Rishi Dhawan's experience will be the X-factor for them.

Karnataka batter Mayank Agarwal will lead South Zone with Kerala's Rohan Kunnumal as his deputy. Arjun Tendulkar is likely to make his debut for South Zone since completing a move from Mumbai to Goa last year.

South Zone's strength lies in their young pace attack, the troika of Vaishak Vijaykumar, Vidhwath Kaverappa, and Vasuki Koushik, which guided South Zone to the Duleep Trophy title recently. Devdutt Padikkal and Narayan Jagadeesan will be key in their batting order.

#2 Central Zone vs South Zone

Central Zone looks the strongest among all six sides in this Deodhar Trophy season, with Madhya Pradesh all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer set to captain them.

Uttar Pradesh batter Rinku Singh will be the X-factor in the middle order. Aryan Juyal, Madhav Kaushik, Yash Dubey, and Upendra Yadav are the bankable options in the batting order.

Shivam Mavi, Akash Madhwal, Aniket Chaudhary, Yash Thakur, and Mohsin Khan will form a heavy pace attack for Central Zone. Uttar Pradesh's Karan Sharma and Vidarbha's Aditya Sarwate will provide the impetus in the spin department.

Central Zone will play against the eight-time Deodhar Trophy winners on August 1. The two teams shared the title in 2000-01 after the final ended in a pulsating tie, with both sides scoring 298.

#1 East Zone vs West Zone

East Zone are technically the defending champions of the Deodhar Trophy when the tournament was last conducted in the inter-zonal event in 2014. They defeated West Zone in the final as captain Manoj Tiwary's 75 and Ashok Dinda's four-fer (4/33) guided them to a 24-run victory.

Nine years later, Jharkhand player Saurabh Tiwary, who was part of East Zone's victorious campaign, will lead the side with Bengal's Abhimanyu Easwaran as his deputy.

Sudip Gharami, Subhranshu Senapati, Riyan Parag, Virat Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mura Singh, and Akash Deep are also part of the East Zone.

West Zone comes here after finishing as runners-up in the Duleep Trophy to South Zone in Bengaluru. Priyank Panchal will continue as their captain. Rahul Tripathi, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Samarth Vyas, Het Patel, and Harvik Desai form the batting unit core.

The likes of Tushar Deshpande and Chetan Sakariya are named as standby players due to injuries. In the duo's absence, Chintan Gaja, Arzan Nagwaswalla, and Rajvardhan Hamgargekar will look after the pace unit.