Dhruv Jurel appointed captain of this team following England tour, RCB skipper Rajat Patidar to be his deputy; Kuldeep Yadav included too

India's star wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel has been entrusted with a big responsibility to lead the Central Zone team in the upcoming 2025-26 Duleep Trophy, which marks the beginning of this year's domestic season. Not just this, RCB captain Rajat Patidar will serve as Jurel's deputy, with the tournament scheduled to start on August 28.

Dhruv Jurel to lead Central Zone squad in Duleep Trophy

The squad also features the return of several key players. After being sidelined for the entire Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, spinner Kuldeep Yadav will lead the spin attack for Central Zone. He will be joined by Vidarbha's Harsh Dubey, who set a new record for most wickets in a Ranji Trophy season with 69 during the 2024-25 campaign, as well as Rajasthan's Manav Suthar. The pace attack will be spearheaded by the returning seamer Khaleel Ahmed and Deepak Chahar.

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The Central Zone squad also boasts a strong batting lineup. Vidarbha's Yash Rathod, the top run-scorer in the last Ranji Trophy season with 960 runs, and his teammate Danish Malewar, who scored crucial innings of 153 and 73 in the final against Kerala, have both been named in the squad. Other notable inclusions are UP skipper Aryan Juyal, Madhya Pradesh off-spinner Saransh Jain, and Chhattisgarh batter Sanjeet Desai. The team will kick off its Duleep Trophy campaign on August 28 against North East at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.

Central Zone's squad:

Dhruv Jurel (c, wk), Rajat Patidar (vc - subject to fitness clearance), Aryan Juyal, Danesh Malewar, Sanchit Desai, Kuldeep Yadav, Aditya Thakre, Deepak Chahar, Saransh Jain, Ayush Pande,y Shubham Sharma, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed

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Let's have a look at the squads of North Zone, West Zone, East Zone and South Zone:

North Zone's squad:

Shubman Gill (Captain, Punjab), Shubham Khajuria (J&K), Ankit Kumar (Vice-Captain, Haryana), Ayush Badoni (Delhi), Yash Dhull (Delhi), Ankit Kalsi (Himachal Pradesh), Nishant Sandhu (Haryana), Sahil Lotra (J&K), Mayank Dagar (Himachal Pradesh), Yudhvir Singh Charak (J&K), Arshdeep Singh (Punjab), Harshit Rana (Delhi), Anshul Kamboj (Haryana), Auqib Nabi (J&K), Kanhaiya Wadhawan (J&K, wicketkeeper)

West Zone's squad:

Shardul Thakur (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Aarya Desai, Harvik Desai, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jaymeet Patel, Manan Hingrajia, Saurabh Nawale, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Dharmendra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Arzan Nagwaswala

East Zone's squad:

Ishan Kishan (C)(WK), Abhimanyu Easwaran (VC), Sandeep Pattnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra (WK), Riyan Parag, Utkarsh Singh, Manishi, Suraj Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Shami

South Zone's squad:

Tilak Varma (c) (Hyderabad), Mohammed Azharuddeen (vc) (Kerala), Tanmay Agarwal (Hyderabad), R Sai Kishore (Tamil Nadu), Tanay Thyagarajan (Hyderabad), Vijaykumar Vyshak (Karnataka), Nidheesh MD (Kerala), Ricky Bhui (Andhra), Devdutt Padikkal (Karnataka), Mohit Kale (Pondicherry), Salman Nizar (Kerala), Narayan Jagadeesan (Tamil Nadu), Tripurana Vijay (Andhra), Basil NP (Kerala), Gurjapneet Singh (Tamil Nadu), Snehal Kauthankar (Goa)