Introduced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 1994-95, Challenger Trophy is a day-night one-day tournament. It was started keeping in view India's one-day international commitments. The tournament is played in October before the start of the all important Ranji season. The main aim of the Challenger series is to show-case the best of the cricketing talent in the country as well as giving younger players an opportunity to make an impression.

It was earlier known as the NKP Salve Trophy named after the man who got the World Cup to the sub-continent in 1987. It was renamed as The NKP Salve Challenger Trophy from the 1998-99 season onwards. It is officially called The Challenger Series now. The tournament was not played in 2002-03

The tournament which is played between three sides made up of 36 players in all constitutes the best talent in the country. The three teams were India Senior, India A and India B. The team names were changed for the 2006 version of the tournament. India Senior became India Blue and India A and India B became India Red and India Blue respectively. India Senior have won the tournament seven times including the 2005-06 edition.

For first few years the three teams were picked on merit, but the emphasis shifted to selecting three well-matched teams, a move that resulted in closer and more popular matches. The Challenger Series has often been the platform for the comeback of senior cricketers or players looking to get back into the national side. The tournament especially gained popularity in the 2005-06 edition which saw the comeback of Sachin Tendulkar from injury. He lost his wicket to 17 year-old Piyush Chawla.