First-Class Matches India 2003/04 and 2004/05

Himachal Pradesh could feel hard done by in the Plate; they headed Group A with ease only for their semifinal against Services, who had come a distant second in Group B, to be virtually washed out. Services won the ensuing coin-toss and with it, promotion to the Elite next season. Group B winners Haryana beat Bihar in the other semifinal on first-innings lead, and went on to thrash Services in the (largely meaningless) Plate final. The Duleep Trophy was again contested on a league basis, with a Bangladesh Board XI as the sixth team in additional to the five traditional zonal sides. The groups were headed by North and Central Zones, with the latter ultimately cruising to an easy nine-wicket win in the final after what had been, until then, a closely-contested, low-scoring match. The Bangladeshis made no impression on the tournament and were clearly out of their depth. But the enduring memory of the domestic season is the heartening success for perennial poor relations Railways, who could also claim the outstanding player on the domestic scene in the form of Jai Yadav, who took 56 wickets as a fast-medium bowler and also contributed over 600 runs. He played a huge part both in Central Zone’s capture of the Duleep Trophy and in Railways’ success, the latter culminating in scores of 63 and 97 and bowling returns of 5-83 and 0-17 in the Ranji final. Duleep Trophy 2004/05: Final tables Group A P W L DWF DLF BP Pts Quot 4 0 2 0 1 North Zone 2 2 0 0 0 0 8 1.675 2 West Zone 2 1 1 0 0 0 4 1.000 3 South Zone 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0.597 Group B P W L DWF DLF BP Pts Quot 4 0 2 0 1 1 Central Zone 2 1 0 1 0 0 6 1.437 2 East Zone 2 1 1 0 0 1 5 1.609 3 Bangladesh Cricket Board XI 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0.454 FINAL: Central Zone beat North Zone by nine wickets 112 India in 2004/05