India and Mumbai Indians’ promising southpaw batter Tilak Varma has been named captain of South Zone for the upcoming Duleep Trophy, set to be held in Bengaluru next month. Tilak, who has already featured in four ODIs and 25 T20Is for India, was in excellent form during his recent County Championship stint with Hampshire, scoring two centuries in just four innings.
The 16-member South Zone squad also features four players from Kerala — Mohammed Azharuddeen, who will serve as Tilak’s deputy, along with MD Nidheesh, Basil NP, and Salman Nizar.
Narayan Jagadeesan, currently in England as Rishabh Pant’s replacement, has also been included, alongside R Sai Kishore and Devdutt Padikkal. The pace attack will be spearheaded by Vyshak Vijaykumar. Meanwhile, Karnataka’s R Smaran — the top run-scorer for his state in the last Ranji Trophy with 516 runs — has been named a standby, possibly due to injury concerns.
This edition of the Duleep Trophy marks a return to its traditional zonal format, with six teams representing different regions — a shift from the India A, B, C, and D format used in recent years. Unlike previous editions where the squads were picked by the senior national selectors, teams will now be selected by their respective zonal selectors, giving more control to the local ecosystem.
The tournament is scheduled to take place at the BCCI Centre of Excellence grounds in Bengaluru, starting August 28.
South Zone squad: Tilak Varma (captain), Mohammed Azharuddeen (vice-captain), Tanmay Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohit Kale, Salman Nizar, Narayan Jagadeesan, T. Vijay (Andhra), R Sai Kishore, Tanay Thyagarajan, Vyshak Vijaykumar, MD Nidheesh, Ricky Bhui, Basil NP, Gurjapneet Singh, Snehal Kauthankar.
Stand-by: Mohit Redkar, R Smaran, Ankit Sharma, Edhen Apple Tom, Andre Siddarth, Shaikh Rasheed
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