Mohammed Shami Selected for East Zone Squad in 2025-26 Duleep Trophy
Mohammed Shami Joins East Zone for Duleep Trophy
New Delhi, August 1: Mohammed Shami, the prominent Indian fast bowler, has been included in the 15-member East Zone squad for the upcoming 2025-26 Duleep Trophy, as reported by a sports news outlet.
The 34-year-old cricketer last featured in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2025, where he secured six wickets across nine matches while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad. His most recent first-class appearance was for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy in November 2024.
Ishan Kishan has been appointed as the captain of the squad, which also features fellow Indian bowlers Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar, along with all-rounder Riyan Parag. Abhimanyu Easwaran, who was part of the Test squad in England, will serve as vice-captain.
Among the standbys is Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who recently made headlines by scoring the fastest century in Youth ODIs during India Under-19's tour of England last month.
The squad also includes left-arm spinner Manishi, who took 22 wickets in seven matches, as well as Virat Singh and Sharandeep Singh, who were the leading run-scorers for Jharkhand in the previous Ranji Trophy.
The Duleep Trophy last utilized a zonal format in the 2023-24 season, with South Zone emerging victorious. East Zone is set to kick off the domestic season with a match against North Zone on August 28 at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
This year's competition will run from August 28 to September 15, marking the beginning of the Indian domestic cricket season for 2025-26. Notably, the tournament transitioned from its traditional zonal format last year to feature four distinct Indian squads, labeled A, B, C, and D, as determined by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
East Zone squad:
Ishan Kishan (c), 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.