Before the 2022–23 season, inter zonal cricket in India had consisted of five teams, representing the Central, East, North, South and West zones.[1] With the addition of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) ahead of the 2018–19 season, a new zone was required when zonal cricket returned in 2022–23.[2] Therefore, North East Zone cricket was formed in August 2022 for both men's and women's cricket.[3] In August 2022, BCCI announced that North East Zone would be one of the six zones to compete in the 2022–23 Duleep Trophy.[4][5]
This was the first time that North East Zone participated in any competitive cricket tournament in India, with Hokaito Zhimomi being named as the captain.[6][7] They played their inaugural first-class match on 8 September 2022 and drew the match against West Zone.[8] However, they could not qualify for the semi-final because of West Zone's first innings lead.[9]
They took part in the 2023 Deodhar Trophy, a List A cricket competition for the first time.[10]