The 2018–19 Indian cricket season was the 126th cricket season since the commencement of first-class cricket in India. The international cricket season started early in June 2018 with Afghanistan playing its home matches against Bangladesh. Afghanistan went on to win the T20I series 3–0. The Indian national team started its season hosting Afghanistan for the latter's Test cricket debut. India won the match in two days by an innings and 262 runs. West Indies toured India and lost the Test series 0–2, ODI series 1–3 and the T20I series 0–3. Australia toured India and won the T20I series 2–0 and ODI series 3–2. India also played host to Afghanistan's home games against Ireland. Afghanistan won the T20I series 3–0 and Test series 1–0. The ODI series was drawn 2–2. England women's toured India and lost the WODI series 1–2 but won the WT20I series 3–0.
India was scheduled to host Asia Cup but it was moved to the United Arab Emirates, following ongoing political tensions between India and Pakistan. In July, the scheduled Asia Cup Qualifiers were also shifted from India to Malaysia. Zimbabwe was also scheduled to tour India but due to the conflicting dates with 2019 Indian Premier League, the Zimbabwe's tour was put in doubt and the series was postponed.
The A-team season consisted of tours from Australia A, South Africa A, England Lions and Australia A Women. South Africa A lost the first class series 0–1. They were joined by India B and Australia A for a List A Quadrangular Series. India B defeated Australia A in the final to win the series. Australia A drew the first class series 1–1. England Lions lost the first class series 0–1 and List A series 1–4. Australia A women won the women's list a series 0–3 but lost the women's T20 series 3–0.
The domestic season was the biggest ever after addition of nine new teams as per the Lodha Panel recommendations and overs 2000 matches were played. During the season, BCCI faced strain on its resources(umpires and referees) due to high number of matches. The domestic season began with Duleep trophy and finished in May with 12th season of Indian Premiere League. India Blue won the Duleep trophy. Bengal won the Vijay Hazare trophy. Vidharbha won the Ranji Trophy. Vidharbha also won the Irani Trophy. Karnataka won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Mumbai Indians won the 2019 Indian Premier League.
The women's domestic season began in August with the new Women's T20 Challenger Trophy and ended in May with Women's T20 Challenge. India Blue Women won the T20 Challenger Trophy. Bengal women won the one-day league. India Red Women won the One-Day Challenger Trophy. Punjab won the Senior Women's T20 League. IPL Supernovas won the 2019 Women's T20 Challenge.
International Men's International tours Dates Tournament Home team Away team Results [Matches] Test ODI T20I – Bangladesh against Afghanistan in India — — 3–0 – Afghanistan tour of India 1–0 — — – West Indies tour of India 2–0 3–1 3–0 – Ireland against Afghanistan in India 1–0 2–2 3–0 – Australia tour of India — 2–3 0–2 Women's International tours Dates Tournament Home team Away team Results [Matches] WTest WODI WT20I – English women tour of India — 2–1 0–3
India-A, India-B and India U-19 Teams International tours Dates Tournament Home team Away team Results [Matches] FC LA – India 'A' vs South Africa 'A' First-Class Series India A South Africa A 1–0 — – India 'A' vs Australia 'A' First-Class series India A Australia A 1–1 — – India 'A' vs England Lions First-Class and List-A series India A England Lions 1–0 4–1 Multiteam tournaments Dates Tournament Teams Winners – Quadrangular Series(List-A) India A, India B, Australia A and South Africa A India B Women's international tours Dates Tournament Home team Away team Results [Matches] Women's LA Women's T20 – India 'A' Women vs Australia 'A' Women List-A and T20 series India A Women Australia A Women 0–3 3–0
Domestic The domestic season was the largest ever with addition of nine new teams as per the Lodha Panel recommendations and over 2000 matches were held. The nine new teams that will make their debut in the season are Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Manipur cricket team, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim and Uttarakhand. The new teams played in the plate group with old 28 teams playing in Elite Groups A, B and C. New teams also struggled for availability of grounds and players for the teams. The qualification structure, of top-5 teams qualifying from Group-A and B combined, was a source of confusion and controversy. The shortage of umpires and match officials also remained a serious issue for the BCCI. Cricket Association of Bengal complaint about the poor quality of umpires during Ranji Trophy. BCCI also had to face issue of players misusing their domicile to play for the new teams.
Men's
The men's season began in August with Duleep Trophy. India Blue defeated India Red by an innings and 187 runs in the final to win the tournament. The Vijay Hazare Trophy was played in September and October. Mumbai defeated Delhi in the final by 4 wickets to win the Vijay Hazare trophy. The Ranji Trophy started in November and finished with knockouts being played in January. For the new teams in Plate group, the professional players played the key role of guiding and holding their teams during the Ranji trophy. Vidarbha successfully defended the Ranji Trophy crown by defeating Saurashtra by 78 runs in the final played at Nagpur. By winning the Ranji Trophy, Vidharbha played Rest of India in a Best vs Rest format one-off match for Irani Cup. Vidharbha defeated Rest of India on first-innings basis to win the Irani Cup. The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy was held in February and March. Karnataka won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for the first time after beating Maharashtra by 8 wickets in the final. The men's season ended with the 12th season of IPL, which ran from 23 March to 12 May. Mumbai Indians defeated Chennai Super Kings by 1 run in the final to win the 2019 Indian Premier League.
Dates Tournament Matches Format Teams Format (No. of Teams) Tournament format (No. of Matches) Winners – Duleep Trophy First-class Intra-national(3 Teams) Round-robin and Finals(4 Matches) India Blue – Vijay Hazare Trophy List A Inter-state(37 Teams) Round-robin and Playoff format(160 Matches) Mumbai – Deodhar Trophy List A Intra-national(3 Teams) Round-robin and Finals(4 Matches) India C – Ranji Trophy First-class Inter-state(37 Teams) Round-robin and Playoff format(160 Matches) Vidarbha – Irani Cup First-class State and Intra-national(2 Teams) Single match(1 Match) Vidarbha – Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Twenty20 Inter-state(37 Teams) Round-robin and Playoff format(140 Matches) Karnataka – Indian Premier League Twenty20 Inter-franchise(8 Teams) Double Round-robin and Playoff format(60 Matches) MumbaiIndians
Women's
The Inter-zonal multi-day game was eliminated from the women's season. The Challenger Trophy was also held in T20 format along with previously played one-day format. The new T20 Challenger Trophy started the domestic season in August.India Blue Women defeated India Red women by 4 runs to win the inaugural trophy. The One-Day League was played in December. Due to scheduling conflicts, the knockout for the one-day tournament were delayed and moved from 24 to 29 December to 26–31 December. Bengal defeated Andhra by 10 runs in the final to win their first One Day League. One Day League was followed by One-Day Challenger Trophy in January. India Red defeated India Blue by 15 runs to win the Challenger Trophy for the 3rd time. T20 League was held in February. Punjab beat Karnataka by 4 runs to win the Senior Women T20 league. A parallel women's tournament with IPL, a followup to 2018 Women's T20 Challenge was held in May 2019 with three teams. IPL Supernovas defeated IPL Velocity by 4 wickets in the final to win the 2019 Women's T20 Challenge.
Dates Tournament Matches Format Teams Format (No. of Teams) Tournament format (No. of Matches) Winners – T20 ChallengerTrophy Women's Twenty20 Intra-national(3 Teams) Double Round-robin and Finals(7 Matches) India BlueWomen – One-Day League Women's List A Inter-state(36 Teams) Round-robin and Playoff format(151 Matches) Bengal Women – Challenger Trophy Women's List A Intra-national(3 Teams) Round-robin and Finals(4 Matches) India RedWomen – T20 League Women's Twenty20 Inter-state(36 Teams) Round-robin and Playoff format(133 Matches) Punjab women – Women's T20 Challenge Women's Twenty20 Intra-national(3 Teams) Round-robin and Finals(4 Matches) IPLSupernovas
Junior level + Contents 1 InternationalUnder-19 Men's 2 Domestic Men's 3 Domestic Women's 1.1Quadr-angularSeries2018 1.2YouthTestSeriesvsSouthAfrica 1.3Quadr-angularSeries2019 2.1Col C KNayuduTrophy 2.2U23One-DayLeagueandKnockout 2.3VizzyTrophy 2.4CoochBeharTrophy 2.5VinooMankadTrophy 2.6U19One-DayChallengerTrophy 2.7VijayMerchantTrophy 3.1U23One-DayLeague 3.2U23One-DayChallengerTrophy 3.3U23 T20League 3.4U23 T20ChallengerTrophy 3.5U19One-DayLeague 3.6U19 T20League 3.7U19 T20ChallengerTrophy
International Men's U-19 International tours Dates Tournament Home team Away team Results [Matches] Youth Test Youth ODI – India Under-19 vs South Africa Under-19 Youth Test Series India U-19 South Africa U-19 2–0 —Men's U-19 International tournaments Dates Tournament Teams Winners – Quadrangular Series 2018(One-Day) India U-19 A, India U-19 B, Afghanistan U-19 and Nepal U-19 India U-19 B – Quadrangular Series 2019(One-Day) India U-19 A, India U-19 B, Afghanistan U-19 and South Africa U-19 India U-19 B
Under-19 Men's International Quadrangular Series 2018
BCCI announced the Under-19 quadrangular tournament between Afghanistan, Nepal, India-A and NCA. NCA was later replaced by India-B while tournament was also shifted from Kolkata to Lucknow. The tournament was looked upon as a preparation for the Youth Asia Cup. The tournament was played from 12 to 18 September 2018. India U-19 B defeated India U-19 A by 10 runs in the final to win the tournament.
League Team India U-19 A (RU) 3 3 0 0 0 9 +3.024 India U-19 B (C) 3 2 1 0 0 5 −0.732 Nepal U-19 3 1 2 0 0 2 −0.775 Afghanistan U-19 (3rd) 3 0 3 0 0 0 −1.118 Top two teams advanced to the final
Third place play-off
Final
Under-19 Men's Youth Test Series vs South Africa
In February and March 2019, South Africa Under-19 cricket team toured India to play 2-match Youth Test series against India Under-19 cricket team. Both the matches were played at the Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram. India Under-19 won the first test by 9 wickets. In 2nd test, India Under-19 defeated South Africa by an innings and 158 runs. Hence, India clean swept the Under-19 Youth Test series 2–0.
Under-19 Men's International Quadrangular Series 2019
BCCI announced the Under-19 quadrangular tournament between Afghanistan, Oman, India-A and India-B. Due to visa issues, Oman was later replaced by Afghanistan. The tournament was played from 5 to 11 March 2019 at Thiruvananthapuram. India U-19 B defeated India U-19 A by 72 runs in the final to win the tournament.
League Team India U-19 B (C) 3 3 0 0 0 13 +0.919 India U-19 A (RU) 3 2 1 0 0 10 +1.503 South Africa U-19 (3rd) 3 1 2 0 0 4 −0.993 Afghanistan U-19 3 0 3 0 0 0 −1.504 Top two teams advanced to the final
Third place play-off
Final
Domestic Men's