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The Duleep Trophy is set to begin on June 28 in Bengaluru. As the tournament nears, the six teams have announced their squads for the zonal domestic event. In the latest update, Punjab batter Mandeep Singh is set to lead the North Zone with GT with the side snubbing Delhi cricketer Yash Dhull.
It is to be noted that Mandeep Singh has been a consistent performer for Punjab in the domestic circuit and the Punjab skipper will be hoping to lead North Zone to their first Duleep Trophy title since 2011-12. The North Zone squad also features some other prominent names such as Siddarth Kaul and Manan Vohra, with former India wicketkeeper-batter Ajay Ratra being named the coach of the side.
However, one notable omission from the North Zone squad is Yash Dhull, the former India U-19 captain who also led Delhi in the 2022-23 Ranji Trophy season. Dhull had a disappointing season with the bat for Delhi and could only manage 270 runs in 10 innings at an average of 27.
In-form batter Yashasvi Jaiswal and Prithvi Shaw have been included in the West Zone squad along with CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad. Gujarat batsman Priyank Panchal has been named their captain. While Hanuma Vihari will lead the South Zone team with Mayank Agarwal as his deputy.
India A and Bengal captain Abhimanyu Easwaran will lead the East Zone, which consists of talented players like Riyan Parag, Abishek Porel, Mukesh Kumar, and Anukul Roy. Fast bowler Shivam Mavi will take the charge as Central Zone skipper, with other notable names in the squad being Rinku Singh and Avesh Khan. Nagaland's batting all-rounder Rongsen Jonathan has been named the captain of the Northeast Zone.
North Zone:
Mandeep Singh (C), Prashant Chopra, Dhruv Shorey, Manan Vohra, Prabhsimran Singh, Ankit Kumar, AS Kalsi, Harshit Rana, Abid Mushtaq, Jayant Yadav, Pulkit Narang, Nishant Sandhu, Sidharth Kaul, Vaibhav Arora, Baltej Singh. North Zone Standby players: Mayank Dagar, Mayank Markande, Ravi Chauhan, Anmol Mahotra, Nehal Wadhera, Diwesh Pathania, Divij Mehra, Kunal Mahajan.
