Shardul Thakur to lead West Zone side in upcoming Duleep Trophy

Mumbai, Aug 1 (IANS) India's seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur has been named as the captain of the strong West Zone squad in the forthcoming Duleep Trophy, starting on August 28 in Bengaluru.

The squad selected by the zonal selection committee in a meeting at MCA Sharad Pawar Indoor Cricket Academy and Recreation Centre in BKC on Friday has also included Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan and Ruturaj Gaikwad.

Thakur, currently in the Indian team for the ongoing Test series in England, had been a crucial all-round player for Mumbai in domestic cricket alongside Tanush Kotian and Shams Mulani. Pacer Tushar Deshpande also finds a place in the squad for the Duleep Trophy.

Iyer currently finds himself out of favour of the Indian Test team set-up. He has played 14 Tests for India, hitting one century and five fifties before being out of the team after the second Test of 2024 home series against England.

Sarfaraz, on the other hand, warmed the bench for the entire Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour in Australia earlier this year and didn’t get a place for the ongoing Test tour of England, though he did play for India ‘A’ in the two games against England Lions.

From Saurashtra, wicketkeeper-batter Harvik Desai and spinner Dharmendra Jadeja have been included, while Aarya Desai, Jaymeet Patel, Manan Hingrajia and Arzan Nagwaswalla have been selected from the Gujarat set-up. Apart from Gaikwad, Saurabh Nawale is the other player from the Maharashtra side in the West Zone team.

The Duleep Trophy will be held in the old zonal format of six teams and marks the beginning of 2025/26 domestic cricket season. West Zone’s first match will begin on September 4, with their opponents to be winner of the quarter-final clash between Central Zone and North East Zone.

West Zone squad: Shardul Thakur (Capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Aarya Desai, Harvik Desai (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jaymeet Patel, Manan Hingrajia, Saurabh Nawale (wk), Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Dharmendra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, and Arzan Nagwaswalla.

--IANS

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