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 The seventh edition of the top class domestic cricket tournament in India, Duleep trophy was organised in the years of 1967-68 and all the five zonal teams played against each other in the Duleep Trophy, 1967-68. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selected the teams on the basis of their geographical locations and the teams actually represented five different zones of India, in the tournament. The teams were named as East Zone, Central Zone, West Zone, South Zone and North Zone, by the BCCI. The teams competed with each other on a knock-out basis in the tournament and the West Zone team was the top favourite among all the teams. The tournament saw a close contest between the teams.
The teams of North Zone and East Zone played against each other in the first match of Duleep Trophy, 1967-68 and the match was held at Delhi from 06-08 October, 1967. Akash Lal, the captain of North Zone decided to bat first in the match after winning the toss and the decision was proved fruitful for the team. The North Zone team scored a good total of 323 runs in the first innings, thanks to a timely century by V Mehra. Mehra scored 100 runs and S Amarnath also helped his team reaching 323 runs, by scoring 85 runs in the first innings. D Sarkar took 6 wickets for 114 runs on behalf of East Zone in the first innings of North Zone. The East Zone batsmen showed a poor performance while replying to the first innings total of 323 runs made by North Zone. None of them, apart from A Roy could play well and as a result, East Zone got all out to a small score of only 211 runs in the first innings. A Roy scored 61 runs for his team. Having a lead of 112 runs in the first innings, the North Zone team played well in the second innings and declared the innings on a score of 184-4. The target for East Zone to win the match was 297 runs and while batting in the second innings, the team could eventually score 157 runs for 3 wickets, before the end of play. The match officials declared the North Zone team as the winner of the drawn match for having a lead in the first innings. The North Zone team also entered into the Semi-Finals of Duleep Trophy, 1967-68 by winning the match.
The match between the teams of South Zone and Central Zone was the first Semi-Final of Duleep Trophy, 1967-68 and the match took place at Bangalore from 21-23 October, 1967. Winning the toss, the South Zone captain, M Jaisimha took the decision of batting first in the match. The South Zone team got a good total of 331 runs in the first innings, as all the top order batsmen of the team like B Kunderan, K Rajagopal, M Jaisimha, A Baig and V Subramanya played well. The Central Zone batsmen faced a lot of difficulties while batting in their first innings and none of them could play well in the innings. Only S Durani showed some resistance for Central Zone and his 61 runs helped the team reaching a total of 157 runs in the first innings, before getting all out. The South Zone team declared its second innings after scoring 131 runs for 6 wickets and thus set a target of 306 runs, to win for Central Zone. The South Zone set the huge target, as it was having a lead of 174 runs in the first innings. Chasing the target of 306 runs to win, the Central Zone team reached a score of 193-6, before the end of the play. The drawn match saw the South Zone team winning on the basis of its first innings lead and also entering into the Final of Duleep Trophy, 1967-68.
In the second Semi-Final of Duleep Trophy, 1967-68, the teams of West Zone and North Zone played against each other at Pune from 21-23 October, 1967. The North Zone team batted first in the match and scored a total of 417 runs in its first innings. The captain of the North Zone Akash Lal became the star for his team by playing a magnificent knock of 149 runs. The other batsmen like S Amarnath, A Gandotra and B Bedi also made their own contributions by scoring individual half centuries. The West Zone batsmen showed an extraordinary performance while replying to the first innings total of 417 runs, made by North Zone. Almost all the top order batsmen of West Zone played brilliantly and as a result, the team got a huge score of 509 runs in the first innings. R Surti became the top scorer in the team by scoring 104 runs and the other batsmen like D Sardesai, R Nadkarni, F Engineer, A Wadekar, V Manjrekar and C Borde also made their individual half centuries. The stipulated duration of the match was over by the time the West Zone team completed its first innings and the match ended on a draw. The match officials declared the West Zone team as the winner of the match and also allowed it to play against South Zone in the Final of Duleep Trophy, 1967-68. West Zone got the chance as it was having a lead in the first innings of the match.
The Final of Duleep Trophy, 1967-68 was played between the teams of West Zone and South Zone and the two teams played the match at Bombay from 28-31 October, 1967. The West Zone skipper, C Borde won the toss and took the decision of batting first in the match and the team scored 423 runs in the first innings. N Contractor and A Wadekar made most of the contributions to the West Zone innings by scoring 130 and 116 runs, respectively. The other two West Zone batsmen, R Nadkarni and D Sardesai also made their own contributions to the team's first innings total. The South Zone batsmen played extremely well in their first innings, while replying to the 423 runs made by West Zone. Nawab of Pataudi scored a wonderful double century of 200 runs and helped his team to get past West Zone's first innings total. As the other batsmen like V Subramanya and M Jaisimha also played well, South Zone eventually scored 440 runs in its first innings. The stipulated duration of the match was over when the West Zone team reached the score of 100-6 in its second innings and as a result, the match remained drawn. The South Zone team won the drawn match on the basis of its lead in the first innings and also clinched the championship title in Duleep Trophy, 1967-68.
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