According to sources, Indian pacer Akash Deep, who just had an outstanding performance in the England Test series, will not play for East Zone in the Duleep Trophy, which begins in Bengaluru on August 28.
Mukhtar Hussain, a medium pacer from Assam, has taken the position of the right-arm pacer who was initially included in the 15-man roster.
Alongside seasoned players Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, and Suraj Jaiswal, Akash Deep was supposed to spearhead the East Zone pace attack. With a ten-wicket haul in India’s decisive 336-run triumph at Birmingham and a vital half-century as a nightwatcher in the Oval Test, the 28-year-old has been in outstanding red-ball form. He has not yet given an official explanation for his absence, but this time he will be observing the competition from the sidelines.
Ishan Kishan, an Indian batsman and wicketkeeper, will lead the East Zone team, which was revealed earlier this month at the JSCA International Stadium. After missing a number of red-ball matches, Kishan was excluded from the BCCI central contract; nevertheless, he recovered well with excellent domestic results the previous season. He has a vital chance to make a case for a comeback to India’s Test team with the Duleep Trophy.
The vice captain will be Abhimanyu Easwaran. Despite missing the most recent England Tests, Easwaran is a dependable deputy due to his extensive domestic experience. The standby players include Rahul Singh, Aasirwad Swain, Sudip Gharami, Swastik Samal, and Vaibhav Suryavanshi, an explosive adolescent batting star.
This season’s Duleep Trophy, which kicks off the 2025–2026 domestic calendar, has a six-team zonal format. At the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground, East Zone will play North Zone in the quarterfinal. The victor will then play South Zone in the semi-final.
Squad East:
Sandeep Pattnaik (Odisha), Virat Singh (Jharkhand), Denish Das (Assam), Sridam Paul (Tripura), Sharandeep Singh (Jharkhand), Kumar Kushagra (Jharkhand), Riyan Parag (Assam), Utkarsh Singh (Jharkhand), Manishi (Jharkhand), Suraj Jaiswal (Bengal), Mukesh Kumar (Bengal), Mukhtar Hussain (Assam), Mohammed Shami (Bengal), Ishan Kishan (c) (Jharkhand), and Abhimanyu Easwaran (vc) (Bengal).
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