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Ahead of the Duleep Trophy 2025 campaign, the North Zone team have been handed a massive setback as they are likely to miss the services of their captain Shubman Gill. Star batter and India’s red-ball captain, who was earlier named the captain of the side for the domestic tournament, set to be played from August 28 to September 15 at the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru, will not be part of the tournament.
Although, the Indian batter was not scheduled to play the entire tournament due to his presence in the Indian squad for the Asia Cup 2025, but a reported illness will now make him sit out. According to reports quoting Cricbuzz, Gill is currently resting in Chandigarh and will not take part in the elite tournament.
Ankit Kumar to lead North Zone in Duleep Trophy 2025 in absence of Shubman Gill: Reports
If reports are to be believed, physios examined Gill and submitted his health status to the BCCI. However, as of August 22, no official communication has been received from the North Zone associations, but with Ankit Kumar being named Gill’s deputy - he is likely to now lead the side. Furthermore, the North Zone has already named Shubman Rohilla as Gill’s replacement knowing that the star batter will not be available for the entire tournament.
Furthermore, with Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana also being named in the Asia Cup 2025 squad, the zonal side have named Gurnoor Brar and Anuj Thakral as their replacements.
India’s squad for Asia Cup 2025
Surya Kumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh
Reserves: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel
