The competition was established by the BCCI in the
1961–62 season. The tournament was contested between the different geographical zones of India namely,
North,
South,
East,
West and
Central. The inaugural tournament was won by
West Zone who defeated
South Zone in the final by ten wickets. In the
1962–63 season, four of the five teams except
Central Zone included a
West Indies Test cricketer as a part of the teams. The original format was that the five teams played each other on a
knock-out basis. From the
1993–94 season, the competition converted to a league format before moving back to the knock-out format for four seasons. The tournament again reverted to a league format for three seasons from
2000–01. For the
2002–03 season, the zonal teams were replaced by five teams representing respective
Ranji Trophy groups but the format lasted only one season. From the
2003–04 season, the five original zonal teams competed along with a sixth guest team which was a touring foreign team. The first guest team was
England A in
2003–04. From the
2009-10 season, the guest team was dropped, with the original five-team knockout tournament being used until the 2014–15 season. The championship was not held in 2015–16 but returned to in 2016–17 with a new format where three teams chosen by the BCCI took part, designated as Blue, Green and Red. The teams played a
round-robin tournament, with the top two advancing to the final. All games were staged as day-night games and used pink cricket balls. The trophy was cancelled for three seasons due to
COVID-19 and the zonal format returned when it was re-started in
2022-23 with the original five zonal teams joined by a new
North East Zone. The 2024-25 format deviated from recent editions by featuring four teams: India A, India B, India C, and India D, instead of the traditional zonal teams. The tournament followed a round-robin format with no knockout stage. The team with the maximum points at the end of the round-robin stage won the tournament. The teams were composed of a mix of experienced and emerging players selected by national selectors. ==Composition of teams==