Team India batsman and IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) leader Ruturaj Gaikwad has been appointed the captain of West Zone for the upcoming Duleep Trophy season, which will begin on August 23 and the final round will be held on September 10. All matches will be played at the BCCI Center of Excellence (COE) ground in Bengaluru.
Last year, fast bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur was leading the West Zone cricket team. Under his leadership the team reached the semi-finals, but failed to secure a place in the finals.
Shams Mulani has been appointed deputy to Ruturaj Gaikwad
With the aim of taking a step forward in the tournament, the selectors of the West Zone team named Ruturaj Gaikwad, who is also the captain of Chennai Super Kings, as their captain. Samson Mullani has been named as Ruturaj Gaikwad’s deputy.
Prithvi Shaw, Urvil Patel, Sarfaraz Khan, Musheer Khan, Mukesh Choudhary, Tanush Kotian, Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande are the other famous faces who have been included in the squad for the upcoming domestic tournament.
As standby players, the officials have designated a batch of 6 players from states in the southern part of the country.
Overall balanced squad determined by West Zone for the upcoming Duleep Trophy.
The batting unit of the team looks solid and quite promising as the team selectors have tried to create a balanced group of batsmen where youth and experience can mix quickly. With the presence of Ruturaj Gaikwad, who recently performed for the India A cricket team in Sri Lanka and batted brilliantly.
The inclusion of emerging talents like Urvil Patel, Harvik Desai, Shivalik Sharma and Siddharth Desai shapes the team combination dynamically. Prithvi Shaw’s presence is surprising. The batsman, who was picked by Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2026 player auction despite not playing a single match for the franchise in the season, has been named in the upcoming Duleep Trophy squad.
The team’s pace attack mostly relies on experienced batsmen like Shardul, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Chaudhary and Baroda’s Atit Seth. Shardul will have to lead the team’s fast bowling line-up as the team’s most senior fast bowling all-rounder.
Mullaney and Kotian will have to shoulder most of the responsibility for spin bowling.
As per the tournament schedule, West Zone will begin their campaign against North Zone in the second quarter-final from August 23 to 27. The winner of the match will take on South Zone in the semi-finals, which is scheduled to begin on August 29.
West Zone team for Duleep Trophy:
Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Shams Mulani (vice-captain), Harvik Desai (wicketkeeper), Urvil Patel (wicketkeeper), Jaymeet Patel, Prithvi Shaw, Shivalik Sharma, Siddharth Desai, Sarfaraz Khan, Musheer Khan, Atit Sheth, Mukesh Chaudhary, Tanush Kotian, Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande.
Reserve players: Arya Desai (Gujarat), Jai Gohil (Saurashtra), Arshin Kulkarni (Maharashtra), Mahesh Pithiya (Baroda), Rajvardhan Hangargekar (Maharashtra), Vishal Jaiswa (Gujarat).
