Kuldeep and Khaleel have been selected for the Central Zone team, led by Jurel, for the Duleep Trophy

Kuldeep and Khaleel have been selected for the Central Zone team, led by Jurel, for the Duleep Trophy

Dhruv Jurel is set to lead Central Zone in the upcoming Duleep Trophy campaign. The spin-bowling unit will have Kuldeep Yadav leading the line alongside Harsh Dubey and Manav Suthar.

After sitting out the recent five-match Test series in England, Kuldeep Yadav is set to return to action in the Duleep Trophy. He will lead the spin attack for Central Zone, teaming up with Harsh Dubey from Vidarbha and Manav Suthar from Rajasthan. Dubey had a record-breaking Ranji Trophy season, taking 69 wickets as Vidarbha won the title in 2024–25.

Dhruv Jurel, who stepped in for the injured Rishabh Pant during India’s win at The Oval, will captain Central Zone. Rajat Patidar has been named vice-captain. In the pace department, Khaleel Ahmed returns after cutting short his county stint with Essex, and will lead the fast bowling unit alongside Deepak Chahar. Chahar, who missed a couple of IPL 2025 games due to injury, was recently seen bowling in India’s practice sessions at Lord’s and The Oval.

Yash Rathod, the top scorer in last season’s Ranji Trophy with 960 runs in 18 innings, and his teammate Danish Malewar, who scored 153 and 73 in the final against Kerala, have been rewarded with spots in the squad. Aryan Juyal, the UP captain, also made the team, along with Saransh Jain, an offspinner from Madhya Pradesh, and Sanjeet Desai, a batter from Chhattisgarh. Vidarbha’s title-winning coach, Usman Ghani, will be the head coach of Central Zone.

Fast bowler Kuldeep Sen, who has played one ODI for India, has been named among the stand-by players.

The Duleep Trophy has returned to its traditional zonal format this year. Last season, teams were grouped as A, B, C, and D by the national selectors. This time, squads are being picked by zonal selection committees, with one selector from each state in the zone.

Central Zone will begin their campaign against North East Zone on August 28 at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.

Central Zone Squad: Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel (c, wk), Danish Malewar, Aryan Juyal, Sanchit Desai, Aditya Thakare, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Ayush Pandey, Saransh Jain, Shubham Sharma, Harsh Dubey, Yash Rathod, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed

Stand-bys: Yash Thakur, Madhav Kaushik, Mahipal Lomror, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Kuldeep Sen, Upendra Yadav