The BCCI has urged the state associations to pick the Indian players in the squads for respective zones for the Duleep Trophy 2025-26. Even though the Duleep Trophy clashes with the Asia Cup 2025, a few players not picked in the T20 squad might make themselves available for the tournament.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has conveyed to the state association to pick the top Indian players for the Duleep Trophy for respective zones. After the likes of KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Sai Sudharsan and Washington Sundar were ignored by the South Zone, the BCCI sent an email to the associations, who were in charge of picking the players for respective zones, to pick the top players and give the premier domestic tournaments the required respect, as per the Indian Express report.
“To uphold its prestige and ensure the highest quality of competition, it’s imperative that all currently available India players are selected for their respective zonal teams,” the BCCI General Manager, Ccricket Operations, Abey Kuruvilla’s mail to the state associations read, as quoted in the report. “Requesting the Zonal Convenors to ensure that all the current Indian players who are available to play Duleep Trophy should be picked.”
Tilak Varma was named the captain of the South Zone squad for the tournament, which is set to kick off on August 28 in Bengaluru. However, with the latter part of the tournament set to clash with the Asia Cup, there are a few changes expected in the squads. Shubman Gill, India’s Test captain, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Arshdeep Singh and Tilak Varma are picked for their respective zones and were also named in India’s Asia Cup squad. All of Rahul, Siraj, Sudharsan and Sundar weren’t picked in the Asia Cup squad.
This communication follows BCCI’s diktat from last year for the centrally contracted players to compete in the domestic competitions across formats when fit and available. Kuruville reiterated BCCI’s stance, saying that the contracted players will have to follow the guidelines.
“Participation in domestic matches: All players, contracted or otherwise, who make themselves available for selection into Team India, shall participate in domestic matches conducted by BCCI. In case any player opts not to participate in any domestic cricket tournaments in spite of availability, he/she shall not be considered for selection unless a prior recommendation is obtained to skip the match/tournament,” he added in the mail.
South Zone squad for Duleep Trophy 2025: 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