East Zone will take on North Zone in competition opener on August 28.
Ace India speedster Mohammad Shami has been included in the East Zone squad for the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2025. The 15-member squad of the East Zone will be captained by Ishan Kishan, and Abhimanyu Easwaran has been named the vice-captain.
The Indian domestic cricket season will start with the event, which is set for August 28–September 15. Shami, 34, was last seen playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2025 Indian Premier League, when he took six wickets in nine games. In November 2024, he played in the Ranji Trophy for Bengal, his most recent first-class appearance.
However, Shami was not included in the Indian squad for the England Test squad, as selectors were not confident in his fitness for the five-day Test matches.
Notable members of the East Zone team include all-rounder Riyan Parag and seamers Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who recently made news by making the quickest century in Youth ODIs during India Under-19's England trip, is one of the six standby players picked by the zonal selectors.
The mainstays are Jharkhand's leading run scorers, Virat Singh and Sharandeep Singh, as well as left-arm spinner Manishi, who claimed 22 wickets in seven games.
In recent years, the format of the Duleep Trophy has changed. The competition was held last year with four separate Indian squads—A, B, C, and D—selected by the BCCI, despite South Zone winning the championship in its most recent zonal format edition in 2023–24.
The tournament's first game, which is set for August 28 at Bengaluru's Centre of Excellence, will pit East Zone against North Zone.
East Zone squad for Duleep Trophy:
Ishan Kishan (C-WK), 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, and Mohammed Shami.
Standy players: Mukhtar Hussain, Aasirwad Swain, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Swastik Samal, Sudip Kumar Gharami, and Rahul Singh
(Times of India inputs)