East Zone

In the 2011–12 season East Zone won the Duleep Trophy and then did it again the following year. Assembled from players across Assam, Bihar, Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Tripura, the team is pulled together under one cap and sent out against the other zones when domestic cricketers from six states are needed.

That patchwork nature has shaped everything about the side. It has never had a settled home ground, borrowing venues as fixtures demand, hosting Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy fixtures and selection events. The zone plays whoever the format puts in front of it and moves on.

The team's debut came in October 1961, in a semi-final against Central Zone at Brabourne Stadium, the first year the Duleep Trophy existed. Since then it has collected five Deodhar Trophy titles, spread out from 1992–93 to 2014–15, and a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2016–17. Recent seasons have been leaner: quarter-final exits to Central Zone in 2023 and North Zone in 2025, before a run to the semi-finals in 2026.

What East Zone has produced, more than trophies, are careers that outgrew it. Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni both wore the cap on their way to the India side, and neither stayed long enough to be remembered as East Zone players first.

When it does need a stage grand enough for a knockout tie, it still returns to Eden Gardens, a ground built to hold 68,000.