India’s domestic cricket season kicks off later this month as Duleep Trophy returns for its 63rd edition.
The tournament follows a zonal structure, with six teams representing different regions competing across three rounds of matches scheduled between August 23 and September 10.
Five captains for the tournament have been unveiled. Tilak Varma takes charge of South Zone, Ruturaj Gaikwad has been handed the captaincy of West Zone, East Zone will be led by Ishan Kishan, India pacer Arshdeep Singh will be at the helm for North Zone while Rajat Patidar will lead Central Zone.
The captain for North East zone hasn’t been announced yet.
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Duleep Trophy 2026 teams: Full squads for zonal tournament
North Zone: Kanhaiya Wadhawan (c), Ayush Badoni (vc), Sanat Sangwan, Qamran Iqbal, Yash Dhull, Ayush Doseja, Abdul Samad, Nishant Sindhu, Arjun Sharma, Abid Mushtaq, Arshdeep Singh, Sunil Kumar, Anshul Kamboj, Yudhvir Singh, Nikhil Kashyap
West Zone: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Shams Mulani (vc), Prithvi Shaw, Harvik Desai (wk), Shivalik Sharma, Musheer Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Jaymeet Patel, Urvil Patel (wk), Siddharth Desai, Tanush Kotian, Shardul Thakur, Atit Seth, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Chaudhary
South Zone: Tilak Varma (c), Ricky Bhui (vc), Abhinav Tejrana, Shaik Rasheed, K. Himateja, R. Smaran, N. Jagadeesan, Karun Nair, Tanay Thyagarajan, Shreyas Gopal, K. Sai Teja, Tripurana Vijay, Vidwath Kaverappa, Aman Khan, M.D. Nideesh
East Zone: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sudip Gharami, Shahbaz Ahmed, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Ishan Kishan (c), Kumar Kushagra (wk), Shikhar Mohan, Anukul Roy, Virat Singh, Subhranshu Senapati, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (vc), Denish Das, Abhijit Sarkar
Central Zone: Rajat Patidar (c), Rinku Singh (vc), Aryan Juyal (wk), Saransh Jain, Aman Mokhade, Kunal Chandela, Zeeshan Ansari, Aryan Pandey, Arshad Khan, Ayush Pandey, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Kunal Singh Rathod (wk), Yash Thakur, Nachiket Bhute
North-East Zone: Techi Neri, Robin Limboo, Bishworjit Singh Konthoujam, Imliwati Lemtur, Kishan Lyndoh, Joseph Lal Thankhuma, Arpit Subhas, Priyojit K, Ronald Meitei, Akash Kumar Choudhary, Vino G. Zhimomi, Lalrempuia, Jonathan Rongsen, Jotin Singh Pheiroijam, Ashish Thapa.
Duleep Trophy 2026 format
Central Zone, who ended a decade-long title drought under Patidar’s leadership last season, have earned a bye straight into the semi-finals.
Last season’s runners-up, South Zone, have also secured a direct semi-final berth. Meanwhile, South, North, East, and North East Zones will battle it out in the opening round.
Every match in this year’s tournament will be staged at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
