Mohammed Shami named in East Zone squad for Duleep Trophy 2025; Ishan Kishan named captain

Veteran India pacer Mohammed Shami has been included in the East Zone squad for the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2025 tournament. The East Zone squad will be captained by Ishan Kishan and will have Abhimanyu Easwaran as the vice-captain.

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The tournament, which is scheduled for August 28–September 15, will mark the beginning of the Indian domestic cricket season.

In the 2025 Indian Premier League, Shami, 34, last appeared as a player for Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he claimed six wickets in nine games. His most recent first-class appearance was for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy in November 2024.

However, because selectors were unsure of Shami's fitness for the five-day Test matches, he was left out of the Indian squad for the England Test.

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Seamers Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar, as well as all-rounder Riyan Parag, are notable players in the East Zone squad.   

The zonal selectors have selected six standby players, including Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who recently made headlines when he scored the fastest century in Youth ODIs during India Under-19's trip to England.

The mainstays are left-arm spinner Manishi, who took 22 wickets in seven games, and Jharkhand's top run scorers, Virat Singh and Sharandeep Singh.

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The Duleep Trophy's format has evolved in recent years. Although South Zone won the title in its most recent zonal format season in 2023–2024, the competition was played last year with four different Indian squads—A, B, C, and D—selected by the BCCI.

East Zone will play North Zone in the opening match of the tournament on August 28 at Bengaluru's Centre of Excellence.

East Zone squad: Ishan Kishan (capt), Abhimanyu Easwaran (vc), Sandeep Patnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Riyan Parag, Utkarsh Singh, Manishi, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Shami.

Standbys: Mukhtar Hussain, Aasirwad Swain, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Swastik Samal, Sudip Kumar Gharami, Rahul Singh.

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