Dhruv Jurel to Lead Central Zone in Duleep Trophy 2025: Full Squad Announced

India's wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel will lead the Central Zone team in the upcoming Duleep Trophy, starting later this month. The squad was announced on August 7 with Jurel taking on the captaincy role in this important domestic tournament. The Duleep Trophy has returned to its traditional zonal format, with four teams made up of players aiming for a spot in India's Test squad. This year's teams were selected by zonal committees, each including representatives from the states within the zones.

Karun Nair, who played well for Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy and returned to the Test team, is missing from the squad. The reason for his exclusion is still unknown. Central Zone will begin their Duleep Trophy campaign on August 28 against North East Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. The tournament gives domestic players a chance to prove themselves for Test selection with India playing four Tests in the next few months, two against the West Indies in October and two against South Africa in November.

The Central Zone squad for the Duleep Trophy includes Kuldeep Yadav, the left-arm wrist spinner who is set to make his return to competitive cricket after sitting out during the five-Test series. He will lead a strong spin attack alongside Harsh Dubey made history last season with a record 69 wickets in the Ranji Trophy and Manav Suthar from Rajasthan. Together, they form a potent spin trio for the squad.

The pace department will be led by Khaleel Ahmed returning after a brief county stint with Essex due to personal reasons. He is expected to share the new ball with Deepak Chahar, who is back after recovering from an IPL injury. Chahar, who missed a few matches for Mumbai Indians, was recently seen bowling at India’s nets in The Oval. The batting lineup gets a boost from Vidarbha’s Yash Rathod, the top scorer in the last Ranji Trophy with 960 runs and his teammate Danish Malewar played a key role in their final win against Kerala with scores of 153 and 73. Vidarbha's Ranji-winning coach, Usman Ghani will lead the team as the head coach.

Squad: Dhruv Jurel (c, wk), Rajat Patidar (vc - subject to fitness clearance), Aryan Juyal, Danesh Malewar, Sanchit Desai, Kuldeep Yadav, Aditya Thakre, Deepak Chahar, Saransh Jain, Ayush Pande,y Shubham Sharma, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed

Standbys: Madhav Kaushik Yash Thakur Yuvraj Chaudhary Mahipal Lomror Kuldeep Sen Upendra Yadav

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