East Zone has suffered yet another loss ahead of the upcoming Duleep Trophy, with captain Ishan Kishan ruled out of the six-team competition. This comes after they had lost the services of pacer Akash Deep. With Kishan unavailable, Abhimanyu Easwaran has been named captain.
The wicketkeeper-batsman was expected to be one of the tournament’s top performers. However, with the Asia Cup 2025 only around the corner, fitness concerns drove him out. Kishan, who last played for Nottinghamshire in the County Championship in June, had only been selected captain a fortnight before.
He was looking for redemption with the Duleep Trophy, even visiting the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) for a fitness testing. Aashirwad Swain, 20, has been called up to replace him in the squad. Swain, who has thrived in age-group cricket, will join fellow Odia batsman Sandeep Pattnaik, with Swastik Samal added as a standby.
The leadership now rests with Bengal batter Easwaran, who was a surprising omission from the captaincy initially despite his experience. Easwaran, who was recently a part of India’s Test squad against England and also skipper of the India A side, has been the backbone of Bengal’s batting for nearly a decade. He has scored over 7800 runs in 103 first-class matches.
Despite his consistency, Abhimanyu Easwaran is still awaiting his India debut.
Since his maiden national call-up, nearly 15 players have made their Test debuts for India, including Kishan. Easwaran most recently remained on the bench during the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
For Kishan, this is another frustrating setback. In the past year, he has been in and out of India’s squads, with the Duleep Trophy seen as a vital opportunity to re-establish himself. Earlier this year, he missed the final Test against England due to an untimely scooter accident, and this fresh injury has again stalled his comeback plans.
East Zone Squad:
Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Aasirwad Swain (WK), Sandeep Patnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Riyan Parag, Utkarsh Singh, Manishi, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Mukhtar Hussain and Mohammed Shami
Standbys: Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Swastik Samal, Sudip Kumar Gharami and Rahul Singh
India
