South Zone have announced two replacements in their squad ahead of this year’s Duleep Trophy semi-final against North Zone, which will begin on 4 September at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
Tilak Varma, who was appointed captain, will not play as he will be travelling to the UAE for the Asia Cup. In his place, Kerala wicketkeeper-batter Mohammed Azharuddeen, who was Tilak’s deputy, will lead South Zone. Tamil Nadu’s wicketkeeper-batter N Jagadeesan has been named vice-captain.
Tamil Nadu spinner R Sai Kishore will also miss the match, having failed to recover from the finger injury he sustained during a club game in Chennai.
To cover these absences, South Zone have added Puducherry all-rounder Ankit Sharma and Andhra batter Shaik Rasheed. Both players were part of the stand-by list.
Ankit had an excellent 2024–25 Ranji Trophy season, taking 24 wickets in seven matches and scoring 216 runs. Rasheed, 20, was Andhra’s top run-scorer last season with 627 runs at an average of 52.52, including a double century against Hyderabad. He was also part of the Chennai Super Kings squad in IPL 2025.
South Zone will face North Zone in one semi-final, while Central Zone will take on West Zone in the other. North Zone and Central Zone progressed to the semi-finals after securing first-innings leads in their respective quarter-final matches. Both fixtures will determine the finalists for this year’s Duleep Trophy.
Updated South Zone squad:
Mohammed Azharuddeen (c & wk), Tanmay Agarwal, Shaik Rasheed, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohit Kale, Salman Nizar, N Jagadeesan (vc & wk), T Vijay, Ankit Sharma, Tanay Thyagarajan, Vyshak Vijaykumar, MD Nidheesh, Ricky Bhui, Basil NP, Gurjapneet Singh, Snehal Kauthankar.
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