 The organisers of Duleep Trophy, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) changed the format of the tournament from the year of 1993-94. The tournament had been playing on a knock-out basis till then and the BCCI started to organise the tournament on a league basis from Duleep Trophy, 1993-94. The teams played against each other once in the league format and there was not a single knock-out match like Semi-Final or Final in the tournament. As a result, the winner of the Duleep Trophy, 1993-94 was decided on the basis of the total points secured by the teams from the league matches. The five zonal teams that participated in the Duleep Trophy, 1993-94 included the likes of the Central Zone, East Zone, West Zone, North Zone and South Zone.
The teams of Central Zone and North Zone played against each other in the first match of Duleep Trophy, 1993-94 and the match was held at Baroda from 10-13 October, 1993. The Central Zone team batted first in the match, as its captain, Yusuf Ali Khan decided so after winning the toss. The Central Zone batsmen played well in their first innings and scored a moderate total of 250 runs before getting all out. In reply to the first innings total of Central Zone, the North Zone batsmen made one of the highest team totals in the history of Duleep Trophy, in their first innings. They batted brilliantly and scored a mammoth total of 708 runs for 9 wickets, before their captain declared the first innings. A Jadeja scored magnificent double century of 264 runs and became the top scorer for North Zone. Trailing by a huge margin of 458 runs in the first innings, the Central Zone batsmen failed to bat well and got all out for a score of 361 runs in their second innings. Thus, the North Zone team won the match by a huge margin of an innings and 97 runs and earned 6 points. In the second match of Duleep Trophy, 1993-94, the teams of West Zone and South Zone played against each other at Rajkot from 10-13 October, 1993. The West Zone captain, S Tendulkar won the toss and decided to bat first in the match and got good support from his batsmen. The West Zone batsmen scored a good total of 551 runs in their first innings, where V Kambli (151) and S Manjrekar (144) made most of the contributions. The South Zone batsmen failed to play well in their first innings, while replying to the mammoth total of West Zone and got all out for 289 runs. Tendulkar asked the South Zone team to follow on in the second innings, as they were trailing by 262 runs in the first innings. While following on in the second innings, the South Zone batsmen once again failed to play well and got all out for only 207 runs. Thus, the West Zone team earned 6 points from the match by winning it with a margin of an innings and 55 runs. The match between the teams of East Zone and South Zone was the third match of Duleep Trophy, 1993-94 and the match was held at Rajkot from 19-22 October, 1993. Winning the toss, the captain of East Zone, C Pandit decided to bat first in the match. However, his batsmen failed to score a good total and got all out for only 206 runs in their first innings. While replying to East Zone's small first innings total, the South Zone batsmen batted well and scored a good total of 333 runs in their first innings. R Singh played a century knock of 109 runs and helped his team taking a lead of 127 runs in the first innings. The East Zone batsmen showed one of the poorest batting performances in the history of Duleep Trophy in their second innings and got all out for only 80 runs. All the bowlers like J Srinath, V Prasad and A Kumble took 3 wickets, each for South Zone and helped their team clinching a huge victory of an innings and 47 runs in the match. South Zone also earned 6 points for winning the match. 
The West Zone and North Zone teams appeared against each other in the fourth match of Duleep Trophy, 1993-94 and the match took place at Baroda from 19-22 October, 1993. The toss of the match was won by the West Zone skipper, S Tendulkar and he took the decision of batting first in the match. The West Zone batsmen faced a lot of troubles while batting in the first innings and scored only 187 runs, before getting all out. While replying to the first innings total of West Zone, the North Zone batsmen played wonderfully and scored a huge total of 403 runs in their first innings. Trailing by a huge margin of 216 runs, the West Zone batsmen once again failed to play well and got all out for 169 runs in their second innings. As a result, the North Zone team won the match with a huge margin of an innings and 47 runs and also earned 6 points from the match.
The fifth match of Duleep Trophy, 1993-94 saw the teams of Central Zone and East Zone playing against each other at Bombay from 28-31 October, 1993. The East Zone captain, C Pandit won the toss and decided to bat first in the match. The East Zone batsmen had a good show in their first innings and they scored a huge total of 462 runs, before getting all out. C Pandit (125) and S Kalyani (114) scored two wonderful centuries for East Zone in the first innings. The Central Zone batsmen could not play well in their first innings, in reply to the huge first innings total of East Zone and they got all out for 197 runs. The Central Zone team, trailing by 265 runs, was asked to follow on in the second innings and the batsmen once again failed to play well. They could score only 242 runs, before getting all out in the second innings and thus, the East Zone team won the match with a margin of an innings and 23 runs. The East Zone team also earned 6 points from the match. The teams of North Zone and South appeared against each other in the sixth match of the Duleep Trophy, 1993-94 and the two teams played the match at Valsad from 28-30 October, 1993. The match saw the South Zone captain, Maninder Singh winning the toss and deciding to field first. His decision was proved to be a good one, as the South Zone bowlers successfully restricted North Zone's first innings to only 170 runs. V Prasad bowled brilliantly for South Zone and took 7 wickets for only 38 runs in North Zone's first innings. The South Zone batsmen also faced a lot of troubles while batting in their first innings and they somehow managed to surpass the first innings total of North Zone to score 200 runs. Trailing by 30 runs in the first innings, the North Zone batsmen failed miserably in their second innings and scored only 99 runs, before getting all out. Thus, South Zone needed only 73 runs in the second innings to win the match and the team scored the required runs by losing 3 wickets. The South Zone team won the match with a margin of 7 wickets and also earned 6 points. The South Zone team appeared in the seventh match of the Duleep Trophy, 1993-94 also and this time, it played against Central Zone at Pune from 06-10 November, 1993. The Central Zone captain, Yusuf Ali Khan was the winner of the toss in the match and he decided to bat first. The Central Zone team secured a moderate total of 252 runs in the first innings. While replying to the first innings total of Central Zone, the South Zone batsmen failed to play well in their first innings. They scored only 200 runs in their first innings and as a result, Central Zone had a deficit of 52 runs in the first innings. Boosted by a good lead of 52 runs, the Central Zone batsmen batted wonderfully in the second innings and scored a good total of 387 runs. Chasing a target of 440 runs to win, the South Zone batsmen could not play well in their second innings and got all out for only 154 runs. The Central Zone team earned 6 points from the match by clinching a huge victory of 285 runs. 
The eighth match of Duleep Trophy, 1993-94 was played between the teams of West Zone and East Zone and the two teams played the match at Surat from 06-08 November, 1993. Winning the toss, the East Zone skipper, C Pandit invited the West Zone team to bat first in the match. Pandit got good support from his bowlers, as they successfully restricted West Zone's first innings to a moderate total of 235 runs. The East Zone batsmen showed a wonderful batting display in their first innings, while replying to the first innings total of West Zone and scored a huge total of 439 runs. The East Zone bowlers bowled extraordinarily in West Zone's second innings and as a result, all the West Zone batsmen got out for a petite score of 103 runs. S Bannerjee took 6 wickets for 48 runs, for East Zone in West Zone's second innings. Thus, the East Zone team won the match by an innings and 101 runs and also earned 6 points.
The East Zone and North Zone teams were involved in the ninth match of Duleep Trophy, 1993-94 and the match took place at Pune from 15-19 November, 1993. The North Zone team batted first in the match, as the East Zone captain, C Pandit invited them to do so, after winning the toss. However, the decision of Pandit was probed to be a wrong one, as North Zone scored a huge total of 415 runs in the first innings. R Puri became the top scorer for North Zone with 151 runs to his name. Though the East Zone batsmen played well, while replying to North Zone's huge first innings total, they got all out for 329 runs in their first innings. Leading by 86 runs in the first innings, the North Zone skipper, Maninder Singh declared the team's second innings on a score of 274-8. The East Zone team needed 361 runs to win the match and when they reached the score of 208-6, the match's stipulated duration got over. The match ended in a draw and the North Zone team earned 2 points from it for having a lead in the first innings. The tenth and last match of Duleep Trophy, 1993-94 was played between the teams of West Zone and Central Zone and the match was held at Bombay from 15-19 November, 1993. Winning the toss, the captain of Central Zone, Yusuf Ali Khan invited the West Zone team to bat first in the match. The decision was not proved to be a good one, as the West Zone team secured a huge total of 407 runs in their first innings. However, the Central Zone batsmen showed their real class and talent, while batting in their first innings and they scored a bigger score that West Zone. Central Zone scored 424 runs in the first innings and took a lead of 17 runs over West Zone. The West Zone batsmen played well in their second innings also and scored a good total of 328 runs, for setting up a target of 312 runs to win for Central Zone. Though, the Central Zone batsmen tried their best, they got all out for a score of 232 runs in their second innings. Thus, the West Zone team won the match by a margin of 79 runs and also earned 6 points. After the completion of al the ten matches in Duleep Trophy, 1993-94, the tournament officials calculated the total points secured by the teams. The calculation revealed that the North Zone team secured the highest 14 points from the league matches and as a result, the North Zone team was declared the winner of Duleep Trophy, 1993-94. |
| More Articles in Duleep Trophy (43) | |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
