India’s domestic season began on Thursday, August 28, with the Duleep Trophy quarter-finals. The Central Zone was up against the Northeast Zone while the North Zone locked horns with the East Zone. Both matches are taking place at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence grounds.
India’s domestic season commenced in Bengaluru on Thursday, August 28, with the North Zone taking on the East Zone in the first quarter-final while the Central Zone were up against the Northeast Zone. A few big names, who were picked in the squad for their respective zones, skipped the quarters, with Shubman Gill, the Indian Test captain, being the biggest omission.
Gill caught the flu and hence rested at his home and is now expected to join the BCCI’s CoE in the next few days before the Indian team leaves for the Asia Cup, while Dhruv Jurel (Central Zone) and Abhimanyu Easwaran also skipped the first games.
As per a Times of India report, Jurel picked up a groin niggle on the eve of the match and the selectors asked him to take rest since he is in the Asia Cup reserves and in case Rishabh Pant doesn’t get fit by October first week for the West Indies Test series, the wicketkeeper-batter will have to be ready for that series. In the case of Easwaran, the domestic veteran was struck by the flu on the morning of the match and hence, Riyan Parag took over the captaincy role for the East Zone.
Rajat Patidar, the Madhya Pradesh batter and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain, took over the leadership duties for the Central Zone in Jurel’s absence and the UP batter Aryan Juyal was the designated wicketkeeper-batter for the side.ย
Several India players and probables, including Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Riyan Parag, Khaleel Ahmed and Harsh Dubey among others were named in the line-ups for their respective zones and will hope to get some good performances on the board this week.
Playing XIs
North Zone: Shubham Khajuria, Yash Dhull, Ankit Kumar (c), Nishant Sindhu, Ayush Badoni, Kanhaiya Wadhawan (wk), Mayank Dagar, Sahil Lotra, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Auqib Nabi
East Zone:ย Kumar Kushagra (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Virat Singh, Sridam Paul, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Sharandeep Singh, Manishi, Mukhtar Hussain, Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Utkarsh Singh
Central Zone: Aditya Thakare, Shubham Sharma, Yash Rathod, Rajat Patidar (c), Danish Malewar, Ayush Pandey, Aryan Juyal (wk), Harsh Dubey,ย Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Singh Yadav
Northeast Zone:ย Akash Kumar, Ankur, Ashish Thapa, Bishworjit Konthoujam, Techi Doria, Hem Chetri, Jehu Anderson (wk), Jotin Pheiroijam, Karnajit Yumnam, Palzor Tamang, Rongsen Jonathan (c)
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