The Duleep Trophy is scheduled to commence on August 23, with the final to be played from September 6 in Bengaluru.
Tilak Varma was named the captain for the South Zone, with Ricky Bhui as his deputy. Tilak will lead a team featuring the likes of Karun Nair and Ravichandran Smaran, who was the highest run-scorer in the recent Ranji Trophy season. Kerala’s MD Nidheesh will lead the pace attack, with Vidwath Kaverappa and K Sai Teja in the ranks as well.
Two-time IPL winning skipper Rajat Patidar has been appointed at the helm of the Central Zone in their title defense. The squad also comprises Rinku Singh, Harsh Dubey and Yash Thakur. Saransh Jain, who received his maiden call-up to India’s Test side, will lead the spin attack along with Dubey and Zeeshan Ansari. Aman Mokhade and Yash Rathod have been rewarded after their consistent performances in the last domestic season.
Central Zone, who are the defending champions, will play their first match in the form of the semi-final on August 30. The Rajat Patidar-led side will take on the winner between the East Zone and the North East Zone, who lock horns on August 23 in Bengaluru.
As far as the East Zone is concerned, the fact that Ishan Kishan was named as the skipper was overshadowed by the appointment of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi as his deputy. The 15-year-old, who has played a mere eight first-class games for Bihar was chosen ahead of Abhimanyu Easwaran, who has showcased consistent performances in the domestic circuit.
Ruturaj Gaikwad will lead the West Zone, with Shams Mulani named as his deputy. The squad, which will take on the North Zone on August 23, contains six players from Mumbai, including Shardul Thakur, Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan. Harvik Desai, Urvil Patel and Musheer Khan are some of the youngsters in the side. The spin department is expected to be led by Mulani and Tanush Kotian. Jammu & Kashmir wicketkeeper-batter Kanhaiya Wadhawan will lead the North Zone squad.
Schedule for Duleep Trophy 2026
Fixture | Date | Venue |
QF: East Zone vs North East Zone | August 23 - 26 | CoE 2, Bengaluru |
QF: North Zone vs West Zone | August 23 - 26 | CoE 1, Bengaluru |
SF: Central Zone vs TBA | August 30 - September 2 | CoE 1, Bengaluru |
SF: South Zone vs TBA | August 30 - September 2 | CoE 2, Bengaluru |
Final | September 6 - 10 | CoE 1, Bengaluru |
Squads for Duleep Trophy 2026
South Zone: Tilak Varma (c), Ricky Bhui (vc), Abhinav Tejrana, Shaik Rasheed, K Himateja, R Smaran, N Jagadeesan (wk), Karun Nair, T Thyagarajan, Shreyas Gopal, K Sai Teja, T Vijay, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Aman Khan, MD Nidheesh
North Zone: Kanhaiya Wadhawan (c)(wk), Ayush Badoni (vc), Sanat Sangwan, Qamran Iqbal, Yash Dhull, Ayush Doseja, Abdul Samad, Nishant Sindhu, Arjun Sharma, Abid Mushtaq, Arshdeep Singh, Sunil Kumar, Anshul Kamboj, Yudhvir Singh, Nikhil Kashyap.
East Zone: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sudip Gharami, Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Suraj Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan (c), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (vc), Virat Singh, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Shikhar Mohan, Subranshu Senapati, Abhijit Sarkar, Anukul Roy, Denish Das
West Zone: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Shams Mulani (vc), Shardul Thakur, Sarfaraz Khan, Musheer Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Tanush Kotian, Harvik Desai (wk), Jaymeet Patel, Urvil Patel (wk), Siddharth Desai, Atit Sheth, Prithvi Shaw, Shivalik Sharma and Mukesh Choudhary
Central Zone: Rajat Patidar (c), Aryan Juyal (wk), Saransh Jain, Aman Mokhade, Kunal Chandela, Zeeshan Ansari, Aryan Pandey, Arshad Khan, Rinku Singh (vc), Ayush Pandey, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Kunal Singh Rathod (wk), Yash Thakur, Nachiket Bhute
North East Zone: Techi Neri, Robin Limboo, Bishworjit Singh Konthoujam, Imliwati Lemtur, Kishan Lyndoh, Joseph Lal Thankhuma, Arpit Subhas (wk), Priyojit K, Ronald Meitei, Akash Kumar Choudhary, Vino G. Zhimomi, Lalrempuia, Jonathan Rongsen, Jotin Singh Pheiroijam, Ashish Thapa.
The selectors are yet to name the skipper for the North East Zone.
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