The Men behind the trophies: Tournaments and the cricketers they were named for

Kumar Ranjitsinhji

Deodhar Trophy

Although in its past the Deodhar Trophy was a zonal tournament, in recent years it has become a three-team tournament. The 2016-17 edition was played in a three-team format between 2016-2017 Vijay Hazare trophy winners Tamil Nadu and two teams decided by the BCCI, which were India A and India B.

This was not always the case, with all editions till the 2014-2015 season played in the Zonal format; the 2015-2016 edition saw the first of the format changes, with then reigning Vijay Hazare champions Gujarat contesting against India A and India B.

The tournament was named for DB Deodhar.

Who was DB Deodhar?

Dinkar Balwant Deodhar was born in then-Poona, Maharashtra in 1892, and did not start off as a cricketer. Unlike many other cricketers of his time, he was not known to have shown any special prowess early on, and did not have early scoring success. Beginning his career as a professor of Sanskrit at Pune's iconic SP College, he was the captain of the Maharashtra Ranji Trophy team from 1939 to 1941 - from the age of 39 to 49.

He played 81 first-class matches over a total of 46 seasons, and amassed 4522 runs in that time. By the time India gained Test status in 1932, Deodhar was considered 'over the hill' despite doing well in first-class cricket even as he was nearing 50.

At 48 years old, he scored a double ton - 246 runs, against Bombay, then led by cricketing icon Vijay Merchant, in the 1940 Ranji Trophy.

Deodhar passed away in 1993 at 101.