New Delhi, Aug 7 (IANS) After captaining India to a 2-2 Test series draw in England, Shubman Gill has been appointed as the captain of the North Zone squad for the upcoming Duleep Trophy, starting on August 28 in Bengaluru.
Apart from Gill, who scored 754 runs in the five Tests in England and became India’s Player of the Series, left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh, seamer Anshul Kamboj and fast-bowling all-rounder Harshit Rana are the other notable names in the 15-member squad.
Kamboj had made his Test debut against England in the fourth game at Manchester, while Rana played in India ‘A’ games against England Lions and Arshdeep didn’t get a game to play in the Test series.
The Zonal selection committee, who picked the squad in a meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, also announced that Services’ Shubham Rohilla, Punjab’s Gurnoor Brar and Haryana’s Anuj Thakral will be included in the main squad if either of Gill, Arshdeep and Rana are included for Indian team’s upcoming assignments coinciding with the Duleep Trophy.
India’s next assignment is featuring in the Men’s T20 Asia Cup, set to happen from September 9-28 in the UAE. Other prominent North Zone squad members include Delhi duo of all-rounder Ayush Badoni and batter Yash Dhull, who captained India to 2022 U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup win.
Jammu & Kashmir, who made it to the quarterfinals of the last Ranji Trophy season, are represented in North Zone squad by four players – Shubham Khajuria, Sahil Lotra, Yudhvir Singh Charak and Auqib Nabi, with Abid Mushtaq in the stand-bys list.
The Duleep Trophy will be held in the old zonal format of six teams and marks the beginning of 2025/26 domestic cricket season. North Zone will begin their campaign with a quarter-final clash against Ishan Kishan-led East Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground, with the game’s winner set to meet South Zone in the semi-final.
North Zone Squad: Shubman Gill (captain) (PCA), Shubham Khajuria (JKCA), Ankit Kumar (vc) (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), and 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) and Divesh Sharma (HPCA).
–IANS
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