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Gill was appointed as North Zone captain a couple of weeks ago but will miss the first quarterfinal against East Zone in Bengaluru.
Shubman Gill will miss North Zone’s Duleep Trophy 2025 quarterfinal match. (Picture Credit: PTI)
India’s Test captain Shubman Gill was appointed as the captain of North Zone for the 2025 edition of the Duleep Trophy, which is set to start on Thursday (August 28) with a match between North Zone and East Zone at BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground in Bengaluru. But it has been reported that Gill is unwell and will miss the tournament opener. In Gill’s absence, 27-year-old right-handed top-order batter Ankit Kumar could lead the North Zone.
Ankit represents Haryana in domestic cricket and has scored 2151 runs in 36 first-class matches played so far.
He was appointed as Gill’s deputy when the North Zone team was picked a couple of weeks back.
According to Cricbuzz, “The North Zone selection committee has been anticipating the possibility of Gill’s unavailability for the inter-zonal competition, scheduled to begin on August 28 at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru, for the last few days. However, as of Friday (August 22), they had not received any official communication from the North Zone associations.”
As per the available information, sources close to Gill have confirmed the news of Gill skipping the Duleep Trophy opener to Cricbuzz.
“The North Zone selectors had already made an arrangement of a replacement in the event of Gill missing the competition. Shubham Rohilla was named as a replacement for Gill at the time of announcing the squad. Ankit Kumar was named vice-captain of the North Zone side, which means he will now lead the zone in the Duleep Trophy,” the report added.
Asia Cup 2025-bound pacers Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana are also part of the North Zone squad, and they are expected to feature in the first round of the six-team tournament. However, they won’t be available for the semifinal match if the North Zone qualifies due to national duty.
Gurnoor Brar and Anuj Thakral were named as the respective replacements for the two pacers by the North Zone selectors for the remaining matches.
On the other hand, Bengal batter Abhimanyu Easwaran will captain the East Zone team. The 29-year-old cricketer was appointed as East Zone captain after Ishan Kishan was ruled out of the quarterfinal due to injury. Bihar-based Bengal pacer Akash Deep will also miss the Duleep Trophy 2025 due to fitness-related issues, but Mohammed Shami and Mukesh Kumar will take the field for East Zone.
North Zone squad: Ankit Kumar (C), Yash Dhull, Ankit Kalsi, Sahil Lotra, Shubham Khajuria, Kanhaiya Wadhawan, Ankit Kumar, Ayush Badoni, Nishant Sindhu, Mayank Dagar, Anshul Kamboj, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Auqib Nabi Dar
East Zone squad: Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Virat Singh, Sharandeep Singh, Sandeep Pattnaik, Sridam Paul, Aasirwad Swain, Riyan Parag, Utkarsh Singh, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Kumar Kushagra, Mohammed Shami, Manishi, Denish Das, Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar
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