The Cooch Behar Trophy is

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

's national four-day

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

tournament for under-19 players. It has been held annually since the 1945–46 season. It is run by the

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the world ...

History

The trophy was donated by, and named after, the family of the

Maharaja of Cooch Behar Cooch Behar, also known as Koch Bihar, was a princely state in India during the British Raj. The state was placed under the Bengal States Agency, part of the Eastern States Agency of the Bengal Presidency. It is located south of the Him ...

. From 1945–46 to 1986–87 the Cooch Behar Trophy was a schools competition. It changed to an under-19 competition in 1987–88.

Current format

Matches are played over four days. All the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cr ...

teams field sides, except for

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and

Services Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a p ...

. The sides are divided into four groups, each of which plays a round-robin. After the group matches are completed, quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final are held.

Prominent players

Many

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

players have been prominent in the Cooch Behar Trophy in their youth.

Budhi Kunderan Budhisagar Krishnappa Kunderan (born Budhisagar Krishnappa Kunderam 2 October 1939 – 23 June 2006) was an Indian cricketer. He played as a wicket keeper for the most of his career, and was an exciting but unorthodox right-handed batsman who ...

and

Rusi Surti Rusi Framroze Surti ( 25 May 1936 – 13 January 2013) was an Indian cricketer who played in 26 Tests from 1960 to 1969. He was a left-arm medium pace and left-arm spin bowler and a lower-order batsman. Surti was also a popular professional fo ...

scored centuries in North Zone Schools' victory in the 1954–55 final.

Ashok Mankad Ashok Mulvantrai Mankad (12 October 1946 – 1 August 2008) was an Indian cricketer. A right-handed batsman, he played for India in 22 Test matches. Ashok Mankad was born in a Vadnagra Nagar Brahmin family as the eldest son of Vinoo Manka ...

represented West Zone Schools in the final for three consecutive seasons from 1960–61 to 1962–63.

Karsan Ghavri Karsan Devjibhai Ghavri (born 28 February 1951) is a former Indian cricketer who played in 39 Test matches and 19 One Day Internationals from 1974 to 1981. He played in the 1975 and 1979 World Cups. Ghavri started his career playing Ranji Tr ...

and

Mohinder Amarnath Mohinder Amarnath Bhardwaj (born 24 September 1950) is an Indian former cricketer,current cricket analyst and actor. He is the son of Lala Amarnath, (the first post-independence captain of India .) and Kailash Kumari. His brother Surinder Ama ...

were the leading bowlers on opposing sides in a semi-final in 1967–68.

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-scor ...

scored 214 for Bombay Under-19s in 1988–89. He made his Test debut less than a year later. In the final in 1999–2000

Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh (born 12 December 1981) is a former Indian international cricketer who played in all formats of the game. He is an all-rounder who batted left-handed in the middle order and bowled slow left-arm orthodox . He has won 7 Player of ...

made 358 in Punjab Under-19s' total of 839 for 5. According to Yuvraj, the Cooch Behar Trophy was second only to the Ranji Trophy in importance for young cricketers at the time, but has declined in status since then, supplanted by the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...

, ''The Test of My Life: From Cricket to Cancer and Back'', Random House India, 2013.

References

External links

Photo of Vidarbha Under-19s and the Trophy in 2017–18
{{Cricket in India Indian domestic cricket competitions