The East Zone squad for the 2025-26 Duleep Trophy was announced on Friday (July 31), with one particularly interesting name - Vaibhav Suryavanshi.
Mohammed Shami named in East Zone Duleep Trophy squad, Vaibhav Suryavanshi among standbys
This season, the Duleep Trophy, the traditional curtain-raiser for the Indian domestic season, will return to the zonal format, with six teams – North, South, East, West, Central and North East – participating. Last season, it was a four-team tournament with the sides selected by the BCCI.
The East Zone squad was picked from the Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam and Tripura teams, with a squad of 15 selected alongside six standby players. Among the six is 14-year-old IPL star Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who is coming off a productive tour of England with the India U19 team.
The main squad has three Test-capped pacers – Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep and Mohammed Shami – who all play for Bengal. Shami was not selected for the ongoing tour of England for a lack of match fitness, and at the age of 34 there is a feeling that his Test career could be winding down.
Read more: Celebrated Test duo excluded from West Zone Duleep Trophy squad
The team will be led by another Test player in wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan, who led Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy this season. Riyan Parag, and IPL captain this year, is also in the squad. The vice-captain is opening batter Abhimanyu Easwaran, part of the India Test squad but as yet uncapped in international cricket.
East Zone squad for 2025-26 Duleep Trophy
Batters
Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sandeep Pattnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh.
Wicketkeepers
Ishan Kishan (c), Kumar Kushagra.
All-rounders
Riyan Parag, Utkarsh Singh.
Bowlers
Manishi, Suraj Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Shami.
Standby
Mukhtar Hussain, Aashirwad Swain, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Swastik Samal, Sudip Kumar Gharami, Rahul Singh.
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