N. K. P. Salve Challenger Trophy

There is a kind of mania about Cricket in the country. People love to see anything related to cricket anywhere anytime. As there is a plethora of talented cricketers in the country, organizing a tournament related to cricket is not very difficult. Though there are umpteen number of domestic and international cricket tournaments held in the country every year, people look forward to each tournament with keen interest. Out of several domestic cricket tournaments held in India every year, the N. K. P. Salve Challenger Trophy has a special charm because it not only showcases the potential talent of the domestic level players; it is an actual test of their international standards. Read on to understand more about the N. K. P. Salve Challenger Trophy.

History
The Challenger Trophy made its debut in India's domestic arena in 1994-95. It was launched keeping in mind the need for a quality domestic tournament in the one-day format. It does not only help in keeping the domestic level cricket in India alive and active, it also gives an opportunity to judge the domestic teams on the international parameters. From 1998-99, the tournament has been renamed as N. K. P. Salve Challenger Trophy in honor of former BCCI president N. K. P. Salve who was instrumental in bringing the World Cup to the sub-continent in 1987.

Pattern of Play
Though the pattern of the play is like any other domestic one-day base tournament, what makes this tournament attractive is the game of talent between the national and domestic team. In Challenger trophy, the teams are divided into three groups- India Seniors, India A and India B. The senior�s team is made up of the leading players of the national team while the other two teams have the country's most promising talents in their roster. It is actually a challenging tournament between 36 most talented cricketers of the country in current times. In 2006 the names of the team were changed India Seniors became India Blue and India A and India B became India Red and India Green, respectively.

Significance
Even though the seniors team is usually expected to walk away with the top honors, the youngsters have, on quite a few occasions, given the senior pros a good run for their money. The tournament, with its one-day format and the congregation of the best players of the country, also becomes one of the most exciting events in the domestic season. It gives the junior players in the country an opportunity to prove their mettle over their seniors who are already accomplished players of the Indian national team.

Challenger Trophy Statistics