The Indian domestic season is all set to begin with the Duleep Trophy getting underway in Bengaluru, from August 28. The tournament will return to the zonal format this time around. Last year, there were four teams in the form of India A, B, C and D. This time there will be six teams with some big names in the mix.
With the BCCI and the Indian team management putting more emphasis on domestic cricket, players will be aiming to impress the selectors and get their way into the mix for India's home season. The biggest name in the mix is India Test captain Shubman Gill, who will be leading the North Zone. However, health issues may limit his participation in the tournament, especially with the Asia Cup on the horizon. Apart from Gill, the likes of Mohammed Shami, Yashavi Jaiswal, Harshit Rana and others will also look to impress.
The tournament will be played in a knockout format this time, with the final starting from September 11. The West Zone and South Zone have already made it to the semi-finals, meaning that the rest of the sides will battle it out for an entry into the final four.
The first quarterfinal will be played at the BCCI Centre Of Excellence in Bengaluru.
North Zone: Shubman Gill (c), Shubham Khajuria, Ankit Kumar (vc), Ayush Badoni, Yash Dhull, Ankit Kalsi, Nishant Sandhu, Sahil Lotra, Mayank Dagar, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Anshul Kamboj, Auqib Nabi, Kanhaiya Wadhawan. Standbys: Shubham Arora (wk), Jaskaranvir Singh Paul, Ravi Chauhan, Abid Mushtaq, Nishunk Birla, Umar Nazir, Divesh Sharma
South Zone: Tilak Varma (c), Mohammed Azharuddeen (vc), Tanmay Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohit Kale, Salman Nizar, Narayan Jagadeesan, Tripurana Vijay, R Sai Kishore, Tanay Thyagarajan, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Nidheesh MD, Ricky Bhui, Basil NP, Gurjapneet Singh, Snehal Kauthankar. Standbys: Mohit Redkar, R Smaran, Ankit Sharma, Edhen Apple Tom, Andre Siddarth, Shaikh Rasheed
West Zone: Shardul Thakur (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Aarya Desai, Harvik Desai (wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jaymeet Patel, Manan Hingrajia, Saurabh Nawale (wicket-keeper), Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Dharmandrasinh Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Arzan Nagwaswala. Standbys: Mahesh Pithiya, Shivalik Shama, Mukesh Choudhary, Siddharath Desai, Chintan Gaja, Urvil Patel, Musheer Khan
East Zone: Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Riyan Parag (vc), Sandeep Patnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Aasirwad Swain (wk), Utkarsh Singh, Manishi, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Mukhtar Hussain and Mohammed Shami.
North East Zone: Jonathan Rongsen (c), Akash Kumar Choudhary, Techi Doria, Yumnum Karnajit, Sedezhalie Rupero, Ashish Thapa, Hem Bahadur Chetri, Jehu Anderson, Arpit Subash Bhatewara, Pheroijam Jotin Singh, Palzor Tamang, Ankur Malik, Bishworjit Singh Konthoujam, Aryan Borah, Lamabam Ajay Singh. Standbys: Kamsha Yangfo, Rajkumar Rex Singh, Bobby Zothansanga, Dippu Sangma, Pukhrumbam Prafullomani Singh, Lee Yong Lepcha, Imliwati Lemtur.
Central Zone: Dhruv Jurel (c/wk), Rajat Patidar, Aryan Juyal, Danish Malewar, Sanjeet Desai, Kuldeep Yadav, Aditya Thakare, Deepak Chahar, Saransh Jain, Ayush Pandey, Shubham Sharma, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed. Standbys: Madhav Kaushik, Yash Thakur, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Mahipal Lomror, Kuldeep Sen, Upendra Yadav.
Quarter-finals (NZ vs EZ and CZ vs NEZ) – 28-31 August
Semi-finals (SZ vs TBA and WZ vs TBA) – 4-7 September
Final (TBA vs TBA) – 11-15 September
The Duleep Trophy will be telecast live on the Star Sports Network. Live streaming for the tournament will be available on JioHotstar.
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