Dhruv Jurel, part of the Indian XI that won the final Test at The Oval to square the series in England 2-2, will lead Central Zone in the 2025/26 Duleep Trophy.
The Duleep Trophy will return to the traditional zonal format for the 2025/26 season. Of the six teams, Central Zone covers seven Ranji Trophy teams – the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, as well as Railways and Services.
Central Zone have won the Duleep Trophy six times, including a hat-trick between 1997/98 and 1998/99. They last lifted the trophy in 2014/15. They will play their first match of the 2025/26 edition from August 28, against North East Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground B in Bengaluru.
Dhruv Jurel to lead Central Zone
Jurel will lead them for the upcoming season. The squad also includes Test cricketers Kuldeep Yadav and, if he gets medical clearance, Rajat Patidar, along with capped Indian limited-overs cricketers like Deepak Chahar and Khaleel Ahmed. Kuldeep Sen, another white-ball international, is a standby.
Jurel has never led any team at senior level, though he has led Uttar Pradesh Under-19s and even India Under-19s. From 25 first-class matches, Jurel has 1,515 runs at 47.34 along with 67 catches and six stumpings. This includes five Tests, where he has 255 runs at 36.42 as well as nine catches and two stumpings.
Central Zone squad for Duleep Trophy 2025/26:
Dhruv Jurel (c & wk), Aryan Juyal, Danish Malewar, Sanchit Desai, Kuldeep Yadav, Aditya Thakare, Deepak Chahar, Saransh Jain, Ayush Pandey, Shubham Sharma, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed, Rajat Patidar (subject to fitness). Standbys: Madhav Kaushik, Yash Thakur, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Mahipal Lomror, Kuldeep Sen, Upendra Yadav.
