Which team won the Deodhar Trophy the last time it was played?

The Indian domestic cricket framework will return to full strength with the return of the Duleep Trophy and Deodhar Trophy. The competition took a serious hit following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 and has been brought back after a brief interval.

The Deodhar Trophy is a List-A tournament that was incepted in 1973-74, wherein initially the format comprised of zonal teams facing each other for the title. For a short period between 2015 and 2018, the winner of the Vijay Hazare Trophy was included along with India A and B.

The format from 2018 and 2019 saw three teams in the form of India A, India B, and India C, selected by the BCCI, play each other in a round-robin format before the top two teams play in the final. The upcoming edition will witness the return of the zonal format.

The last edition of the tournament took place during the October-November window in 2019, where India B led by Parthiv Patel defeated defending champions India C.

On that note, let us take a look at how the tournament unfolded, culminating in India B winning the title.

Deodhar Trophy 2019

The 2019 edition of the competition was held entirely at the JSCA International Stadium, Ranchi. The captains of the India A, India B, and India C sides were Hanuma Vihari, Parthiv Patel, and Shubman Gill, respectively.

The tournament opener took place between India A and India B, where the latter won by 108 runs, courtesy of a hundred by Ruturaj Gaikwad. At the end of the league stage, India C and India B qualified for the finals with eight and four points respectively after India A lost both their matches.

The final of the 2019 Deodhar Trophy took place on November 4, 2019. India B skipper Parthiv Patel won the toss and elected to bat first. Ruturaj Gaikwad, the opening match hero was dismissed for a duck in the first over. India B were reeling at 92-4 at the halfway stage of the innings, but Kedar Jadhav turned things around.

Kedar scored a well-compiled 86 runs off 94 deliveries with the help of four fours and four sixes and stitched together a rescuing partnership with Nitish Rana. Quickfire cameos from Vijay Shankar and Krishnappa Gowtham propelled the score to 283-7. Ishan Porel was the pick of the bowlers from India C, finishing with figures of 5-43.

In reply, India C skipper Shubman Gill was dismissed early by Mohammed Siraj. While Priyam Garg played a solid knock at No.3, he was stranded at one end as wickets tumbled at the other.

From 56-1, the team quickly slipped to 77-5 in no time. Experienced batters like Suryakumar Yadav and Dinesh Karthik succumbed to the spin trap of Shahbaz Nadeem.

India C did stage a fightback with the lower order of Axar Patel, Jalaj Saxena, and Mayank Markande chipped in with some runs, but it proved to be too little, too late. They finished the innings with 232-9, which proved to be 51 runs short of the target.

Baba Aparajith from India B ended up being the leading run-scorer of the 2019 Deodhar Trophy with 167 runs while Jalaj Saxena from India C was the leading wicket-taker with 10 scalps to his name.

Which Indian domestic candidate will shine at the 2023 Deodhar Trophy? Let us know what you think.