Shubman Gill to lead North Zone in Duleep Trophy

After an impressive outing as Team India captain in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, Shubman Gill gears up to lead the North Zone team in the upcoming Duleep Trophy, starting August 28 in Bengaluru.

Gill, who led India from the front with an astonishing tally of 754 runs, inclusive of four centuries, and was named Player of the Series, will lead a 15-member squad featuring several notable names, including left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh, seamer Anshul Kamboj and fast-bowling all-rounder Harshit Rana.

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Kamboj made his Test debut during the fourth match against England at Manchester, while Rana has represented India ‘A’ against the England Lions. Arshdeep, however, did not get a game during the Test series.

The squad was picked by the Zonal Selection Committee during a meeting held here on Thursday. The committee also named Shubham Rohilla (Services), Gurnoor Brar (Punjab), and Anuj Thakral (Haryana) as backups in case Gill, Arshdeep, or Rana are selected for India’s upcoming international assignments, which may coincide with the Duleep Trophy.

India’s next international series is the Asia Cup, scheduled from September 9 to 28 in the UAE.

Other key members in the North Zone squad include Delhi’s Ayush Badoni and Yash Dhull, the latter having captained India to the 2022 U19 World Cup title. Jammu & Kashmir, which reached the quarterfinals in the last Ranji Trophy season, have four players in the squad — Shubham Khajuria, Sahil Lotra, Yudhvir Singh Charak, and Auqib Nabi. Abid Mushtaq has been named in the stand-by list.

Back in its traditional avatar of an inter-zonal contest, the Duleep Trophy will mark the start of India’s domestic season. Six zones – South, Central, West, East, North and North-East – will take part in the tournament, which will be played in a knock-out format.

North Zone will open their campaign with a quarter-final match against Ishan Kishan-led East Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground. The winner of that game will meet South Zone in the semi-final.

North Zone Squad: Shubman Gill (captain, PCA), Shubham Khajuria (JKCA), Ankit Kumar (vice-captain, HCA), Ayush Badoni (DDCA), Yash Dhull (DDCA), Ankit Kalsi (HPCA), Nishant Sindhu (HCA), Sahil Lotra (JKCA), Mayank Dagar (HPCA), Yudhvir Singh Charak (JKCA), Arshdeep Singh (PCA), Harshit Rana (DDCA), Anshul Kamboj (HCA), Auqib Nabi (JKCA), Kanhaiya Wadhawan (wk, JKCA).

Stand-bys: Shubham Arora (wk, HPCA), Jaskaranvir Singh Paul (PCA), Ravi Chauhan (SSCB), Abid Mushtaq (JKCA), Nishunk Birla (UTCA), Umar Nazir (JKCA), Divesh Sharma (HPCA).