India Test captain Shubman Gill will front North Zone in this month’s Duleep Trophy, the traditional curtain-raiser to the domestic year in Bengaluru. The first-class competition starts on 28 August and, for the first time in a couple of seasons, returns to its old zonal format.
Gill, speaking at a separate media event, called the recent England series “a great learning curve for me”. Whether he is actually available for the Duleep remains a live question, though: the Asia Cup, scheduled from 9–28 September, overlaps with the knock-out stages. If Gill is picked for that tournament, Haryana opener Shubham Rohilla will take the captaincy duties.
The selectors have taken similar precautions with the pace attack. Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana – both involved in India’s Test set-up over the past 12 months – could also be pulled away for national duty. Left-arm quick Gurnoor Brar and Delhi seamer Anuj Thakral are the named replacements.
Vice-captaincy goes to Ankit Kumar, rewarded for a strong Ranji campaign in which he rattled up 574 runs at just under 59 for Haryana. All-rounder Nishant Sindhu, another from Haryana’s ranks, gives the squad a left-arm spin option and useful lower-order runs.
Delhi provide only three players: Yash Dhull, Ayush Badoni and Harshit Rana. All three are still slogging through the Delhi Premier League T20, so they will have to shift formats quickly. Jammu & Kashmir, by contrast, have five representatives. Opener Shubham Khajuria returns, while seamer Auqib Nabi is hard to ignore after 44 Ranji wickets last term at a miserly 13.93.
Former India batter Wasim Jaffer likes the balance. “It’s a good mix of youth and guys who’ve already had a taste of Test cricket,” he said on a regional broadcast. “The Asia Cup clash is not ideal, but at least the stand-bys know where they stand.”
The Duleep Trophy’s administrative shape has yo-yoed in recent years. Last season the national selection panel, then headed by Ajit Agarkar, drafted four mixed squads labelled A, B, C and D. This time the choice has gone back to zonal selectors – one selector from each state association.
North Zone open their campaign against East Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. The final runs from 11-15 September, weather permitting.
North Zone squad
Shubman Gill (capt), Shubham Khajuria, Ankit Kumar (vice-capt), Ayush Badoni, Yash Dhull, Ankit Kalsi, Nishant Sindhu, Sahil Lotra, Mayank Dagar, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Anshul Kamboj, Auqib Nabi, Kanhaiya Wadhawan (wk)
Possible replacements
Shubham Rohilla (for Gill), Gurnoor Brar (for Arshdeep), Anuj Thakral (for Harshit)
Stand-bys
Shubham Arora, Jaskaranvir Singh Paul, Ravi Chauhan, Abid Mushtaq, Nishunk Birla, Umar Nazir, Divesh Sharma
