North Zone captain Shubman Gill has sat out of the quarter-final of the 2025 Duleep Trophy, against East Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
North Zone had named Gill, the current Indian Test skipper, as their captain in their squad for the 2025 Duleep Trophy, while Ankit Kumar was listed as his deputy. Other international stars included fast bowlers Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, and Anshul Kamboj, all of whom were part of India’s squad for the 2025 Test series in England.
However, North Zone’s squad came with a footnote: if they were picked for the Asia Cup (due to start on September 9), Gill, Arshdeep, and Rana would be replaced by Shubham Rohilla, Gurnoor Brar, and Anuj Thakral. All three were indeed included in the Asia Cup squad: of them, Gill was named vice-captain.
A day ahead of North Zone’s quarter-final against East Zone, The Times of India ran a report that Gill had been down with a viral flu. He had undergone a blood test, and there was “nothing alarming” in the report. Gill, in Mohali at that point, is expected to fly out to Bengaluru later this week, something corroborated by an ESPNcricinfo report.
Gill is not the only missing captain in the game. An injury had already ruled out East Zone captain Ishan Kishan from the tournament altogether. India A captain Abhimanyu Easwaran, expected to lead in Kishan’s absence, has also sat out with fever. Riyan Parag is leading East Zone instead.
1st Quarter Final, North Zone vs East Zone
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Arshdeep and Rana are, however, playing in the game, as is Mohammed Shami for the East Zone, marking his return to first-class cricket since the Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh in November 2024.
North Zone were 141-3 at the time of writing with Ayush Badoni (36) and Nishant Sandhu (3) at the crease. All three wickets have fallen to Manishi, the Jharkhand left-arm spinner.
Central Zone captain Dhruv Jurel is also missing his side’s quarter-final, against North East Zone. Rajat Patidar is leading them instead. Central Zone were 143-1 with Aryan Juyal (60) and Danish Malewar (79) at the crease.
2nd Quarter Final, Central Zone vs North East Zone
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