Shubman Gill woke up ill on the eve of the Duleep Trophy opener and has stayed away from the North Zone dressing-room as a precaution. The right-hander was pencilled in as captain against East Zone in Bengaluru, yet a short statement from the organisers confirmed he is “unavailable for the quarter-final and will link up with the squad later in the week”.
Haryana batter Ankit Kumar now has the armband, while Services left-hander Shubham Rohilla plugs the gap in the XI. Two other Asia Cup squad members – quicks Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh – remain with North Zone and should bowl later in the game.
Over in the Central v North-East tie, Dhruv Jurel has pulled out with a groin niggle picked up during training on Tuesday. “Nothing long-term, but he wasn’t moving freely enough,” a team physio said before play. Rajat Patidar, originally vice-captain, slides into the leadership role. The Central side still looks strong on paper, featuring Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar and Kuldeep Yadav.
East Zone have their own reshuffle. Regular skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran is down with fever, so all-rounder Riyan Parag takes charge. Parag admitted the change is “not ideal two hours before the toss” but sounded upbeat about “a good surface with a bit of pace early on”.
Gill heads to the Asia Cup on 9 September and, on current medical advice, should be fit in time. His recent numbers underline why North Zone were so keen to have him: 754 runs at 75.40 and three hundreds on his maiden Test tour as India captain in England earlier this year.
The Duleep Trophy semis start on 4 September, with the final slated for 11 September, all at the BCCI Centre of Excellence. Squads can still be tweaked before the knock-outs, but coaches are quietly hoping there are no more last-minute phone calls to the physio’s room.
