Indian pacer Akash Deep, fresh from a remarkable performance in the England Test series, will not play for East Zone in the next Duleep Trophy, which begins on August 28 in Bengaluru, reports say. The right-arm pacer, who was originally chosen to the 15-member roster, has been replaced by Mukhtar Hussain, an Assam medium pacer.
Akash Deep was anticipated to spearhead the East Zone speed attack, with experienced campaigners Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, and Suraj Jaiswal.
The 28-year-old had been in excellent red-ball form, including a ten-wicket haul in India’s dominant 336-run win at Birmingham and a vital half-century as a nightwatcher in the Oval Test. However, he will be watching the competition from the sidelines this time, with no official reason given for his absence.
The East Zone side, announced earlier this month at the JSCA International Stadium, will be led by India’s wicketkeeper-batsman, Ishan Kishan. Despite being dropped from the BCCI central contract for missing many red-ball matches, Kishan rebounded impressively with good domestic results last season. The Duleep Trophy provides him with an important opportunity to re-establish his place in India’s Test squad.
Abhimanyu Easwaran will serve as vice-captain. Though he sat out the last England Tests, Easwaran’s extensive domestic experience makes him an effective deputy. Meanwhile, backup players include explosive adolescent batsman Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Aasirwad Swain, Swastik Samal, Sudip Gharami, and Rahul Singh.
This season’s Duleep Trophy will be a six-team zonal format, kicking off the domestic calendar for 2025/26. East Zone will play North Zone in the quarter-finals at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground, with the winner moving on to face South Zone in the semi-finals.
East Zone Squad:
Ishan Kishan (c) (Jharkhand), Abhimanyu Easwaran (vc) (Bengal), Sandeep Pattnaik (Odisha), Virat Singh (Jharkhand), Denish Das (Assam), Sridam Paul (Tripura), Sharandeep Singh (Jharkhand), Kumar Kushagra (Jharkhand), Riyan Parag (Assam), Utkarsh Singh (Jharkhand), Manishi (Jharkhand), Suraj Jaiswal (Bengal), Mukesh Kumar (Bengal), Mukhtar Hussain (Assam), Mohammed Shami (Bengal).
India
