Mohammed Shami, India’s fast bowler, has been picked to the East Zone squad for the 2025-26 Duleep Trophy. Ishan Kishan, who recently scored two half-centuries for Nottinghamshire in the present County Championship Division One, has been named captain of the 15-player squad, with Abhimanyu Easwaran, a member of India’s Test squad in England, named vice-captain.
The team also includes Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar, and Riyan Parag. Notably, 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who scored the fastest Youth ODI century during India’s Under-19 tour of England last month, has been selected one of the six standbys.
Mohammed Shami last played competitive cricket in the IPL 2025, where he took six wickets in nine matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
His last first-class appearance for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy was in November 2024. Meanwhile, Sudip Chatterjee, Bengal’s leading run-scorer from the previous Ranji season, did not make the team, while Sudip Kumar Gharami, the second-highest run-getter, was nominated to the standby list.
Jharkhand’s leading scorers from last season, Virat Singh and Sharandeep Singh, have been included, along with left-arm spinner Manishi, who took 22 wickets in seven matches.
The Duleep Trophy will be played in a zonal format, with zonal selectors, rather than national selectors, choosing the squads. The East Zone team was selected by Alokendu Lahiri (Bengal), Abakash Khatua (Odisha), Sunil Kumar Singh (Bihar), Manish Wardhan (Jharkhand), Sumit Ranjah Das (Assam), and Upananda Debbarma (Tripura), with Jharkhand State Cricket Association secretary Saurabh Tiwary convening the meeting.
The tournament will begin with East Zone facing North Zone in the opening match from August 28 at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
East Zone squad
Ishan Kishan (capt), Abhimanyu Easwaran (vc), Sandeep Patnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Riyan Parag, Utkarsh Singh, Manishi, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Shami
Standbys: Mukhtar Hussain, Aasirwad Swain, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Swastik Samal, Sudip Kumar Gharami, Rahul Singh
India
