The Duleep Trophy 2025 is set to begin on August 28 and run through September 15 in Bengaluru, marking the start of India's domestic cricket season. The tournament returns to its traditional zonal format, featuring six teams: Central Zone, East Zone, North Zone, North East Zone, South Zone, and West Zone. All matches will be held at the BCCI Centre of Excellence.
Format and Schedule
The Duleep Trophy 2025 follows a knockout format. North Zone will face East Zone, and Central Zone will play against North East Zone in the quarter-finals, which begin on August 28. South Zone and West Zone have earned direct entries into the semi-finals due to their strong records. The semi-finals are scheduled for September 4-7, with the winners advancing to the final. The final match will be held from September 11-15.
Teams and Squads
The six zones competing are North, South, East, West, Central, and North East. Key players to watch include Shubman Gill, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Tilak Varma.
Here are the squads for some of the zones:
- South Zone: 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.
- East Zone: Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Sandeep Patnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Riyan Parag, Utkarsh Singh, Manishi, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Shami.
- North Zone: Ankit Kumar (c), Shubham Khajuria, Ayush Badoni, Yash Dhull, Ankit Kalsi, Nishant Sandhu, Sahil Lotra, Mayank Dagar, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Anshul Kamboj, Auqib Nabi, Kanhaiya Wadhawan. Shubman Gill was initially picked to lead North Zone, but Ankit Kumar is expected to captain the side in his absence due to illness.
- Central Zone: Dhruv Jurel (c & wk), Rajat Patidar, Aryan Juyal, Danish Malewar, Sanjeet Desai, Kuldeep Yadav, Aditya Thakare, Deepak Chahar, Saransh Jain, Ayush Pandey, Shubham Sharma, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed.
- West Zone: Shardul Thakur (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Aarya Desai, Harvik Desai (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jaymeet Patel, Manan Hingrajia, Saurabh Nawale (wk), Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Dharmandrasinh Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Arzan Nagwaswalla.
- NorthEast Zone: Jonathan Rongsen, Akash Kumar Choudhary, Techi Doria, Yumnum Karnajit, Sedezhalie Rupero, Ashish Thapa, Hem Bahadur Chetri, Jehu Anderson, Arpit Subash Bhatewara, Pheroijam Jotin Singh, Palzor Tamang, Ankur Malik, Bishworjit Singh Konthoujam, Aryan Borah, Lamabam Ajay Singh.
Significance and Players to Watch
The Duleep Trophy is an important platform for players aiming to break into the national team. Selectors will be closely monitoring performances, especially with home series against West Indies and South Africa later this year.
Several players will be under the spotlight, including:
- Abhimanyu Easwaran: A seasoned domestic opener, Easwaran has been a consistent performer and is looking to make a strong case for inclusion in the Test squad.
- Devdutt Padikkal: Returning from injury, Padikkal will aim to regain the selectors' confidence with his elegant strokeplay.
- Mohammed Shami: After recovering from a knee injury, Shami will be eager to prove his fitness and form on the red-ball stage.
- Yashasvi Jaiswal: Jaiswal, who was not selected for the Asia Cup, will be looking to score runs and kickstart his season.
- R Sai Kishore: After missing the Buchi Babu tournament due to a hand injury, Kishore will be a key player for South Zone.
Other Details
The Duleep Trophy 2025 will be streamed live on JioHotstar, with television coverage on Star Sports Channels. No fans will be allowed at the matches in Bengaluru.
