The start of India’s 2025-26 domestic scene is here, with the quarter-finals of the Duleep Trophy from August 28 at the BCCI’s at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence outside Bengaluru.
The BCCI’s diktat from last year that India regulars as well as national team aspirants to turn out in domestic cricket in order to remain in contention for selection means that several India-capped cricketers will turn out in the first two rounds, even as the shadow of the upcoming Asia Cup is undeniable.
India’s Test captain Shubman Gill was supposed to lead North Zone in the quarter-final versus East Zone, skippered by Abhimanyu Easwaran. However, news is that Gill has been laid low by illness and has not travelled from his home in Chandigarh keeping in mind his return to India’s T20I squad for next month’s Asia Cup in the UAE.
Others with international experience who are missing from the first round of the Duleep Trophy are Ishan Kishan and Akash Deep. Kishan has not fully recovered from an injury sustained during his stint with English county side Nottinghamshire – for whom he played three matches, scoring 164 runs at an average of 82, with two fifties – while Akash Deep has reportedly been advised rest by the BCCI after playing three of five Tests matches in England.
The East Zone squad features Mohammed Shami, sidelined by injury since May during the IPL, Mukesh Kumar and Riyan Parag, while Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana and Anshul Kamboj are part of the North Zone squad.
In the other quarter-final between Central Zone and North East Zone, Dhruv Jurel, Rajat Patidar, Khaleel Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav and Deepak Chahar are the players with India experience.
In the second round, West Zone and South Zone will enter the fray with players like Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Shardul Thakur, Tilak Varma, Devdutt Padikkal and potentially R Sai Kishore involved.
Each of these cricketers will hope to make a mark in the Duleep Trophy to boost their chances of more playing time at international level. For some, the competition means a little more. Such as for Iyer, snubbed by the BCCI selectors for the Asia Cup despite a dominant IPL 2025 and looking for inroads back into India’s Test squad. Ditto for his Mumbai and West Zone team-mate Sarfaraz, harshly discarded for the tour of England but who has slimmed down ahead of the new season.
Gaikwad is another who appears to have fallen off the selectors’ radar, and so runs for West Zone will be a welcome reminder of his talent. Kuldeep sat on the bench for all five Tests in England and desperately needs match time ahead of visits by West Indies and South Africa, which will be India’s first home Tests post the retirement of R Ashwin. A bunch of wickets for Central Zone could push Kuldeep’s chances of bowling alongside Ravindra Jadeja instead of Washington Sundar.
Varma, who will lead South Zone in the quarter-finals before heading to the UAE with India’s Asia Cup squad, came off a good red-ball stint with English county Hampshire not long ago and more such performances in the Duleep Trophy should keep him in selection discussions.
And then there is Shami. Forever the comeback man, Shami is on the verge of turning 35 and has had more setbacks in the past two years than any other Indian cricketer. This looks like his final chance at returning to India’s Test setup if he stays fit and takes wickets for East Zone.
Similarly, for an injury-prone pace bowler like Chahar, getting through an entire domestic season is imperative.
Beyond the India-capped names mentioned already, the Duleep Trophy holds much importance for the fringe players and uncapped domestic success stories. The Mumbai spin-bowling pair of Tanush Kotian and Shams Mulani; Arzan Nagwaswalla and Dharmendrasingh Jadeja, who toil season after season for Saurashtra and Gujarat respectively; young Kumar Kushagra, a talented wicketkeeper who has made heads turn; Karnataka’s seam bowler Vijaykumar Vyshak who been in discussions releted to the Indian cricket team; the aggressive Delhi duo of Yash Dhull and Ayush Badoni; and Manav Suthar and Harsh Dubey, two left-arm spinners whose domestic and India A performances have left many mulling their chances of higher honours.
These are just some of the names for whom the Duleep Trophy is a crucial competition tailored to push their claims of playing for India.
Another reason the Duleep Trophy will be interesting to track is the BCCI’s introduction of a “serious injury replacement substitute” following Rishabh Pant’s fractured foot during the England tour. The board has decided to implement this new rule in the Duleep Trophy and Ranji Trophy.
The substitute can be a non-playing member of a respective squad but has to be a like-for-like swap and one with prior approve from the match referees should a team present a medical report with the seriousness of an injury (which has to have occurred during a match) and has to be external in nature.
