Dhruv Jurel appointed Central Zone captain for Duleep Trophy
What's the story
Wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel has been appointed as the captain of the Central Zone team for the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2025-26. Jurel, who was part of the Indian squad for Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy and played his last Test at The Oval, did not play in last season's Ranji Trophy but impressed during India A's England tour. Meanwhile, Kuldeep Yadav, who warmed the bench in all 5 Tests against England, has been named in the squad.
Information
A look at the squad
Squad: Dhruv Jurel (capt, wk), Rajat Patidar, Aryan Juyal, Danish Malewar, Sanchit Desai, Kuldeep Yadav, Aditya Thakare, Deepak Chahar, Saransh Jain, Ayush Pandey, Shubham Sharma, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed. Stand-bys: Madhav Kaushik, Yash Thakur, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Mahipal Lomror, Kuldeep Sen, Upendra Yadav.
Spin
Kuldeep leads spin attack with Dubey and Suthar's support
Kuldeep will lead the spin attack of Central Zone in the upcoming Duleep Trophy. He will be joined by Vidarbha's Harsh Dubey and Rajasthan's Manav Suthar. Dubey was the top wicket-taker in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy. He bagged 69 scalps at 16.98. Rajasthan's Suthar played 4 Ranji games last season and picked 17 wickets at 25.35.
Pace
Khaleel, Chahar to lead the pace attack
Left-arm seamer Khaleel Ahmed, who had cut his County stint short with Essex for personal reasons, will lead Central Zone's seam attack. He will be joined by Deepak Chahar, who recently returned to bowling at the India nets at Lord's and The Oval after missing two games for Mumbai Indians due to an IPL 2025 injury.
Format
A look at the tournament format
The Duleep Trophy will return to its traditional zonal contest format after a season of four teams (A, B, C, and D) picked by the Ajit Agarkar-led senior men's selection committee. This year's teams will be selected by zonal selection committees with one member from each state side in the zone. Central Zone's campaign will kick off against North East on August 28 at Bengaluru's Centre of Excellence.