Central Zone suffered a major setback in front of its Dilip Trophy semi -final clash against West Zone, which as captain and wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurall Dengue was diagnosed. His illness dropped him out of the knockout competition, leaving the team without his nominated captain and without one of his most trusted batsmen.
Replacement of Dhruv Jurlel for the Duleep Trophy semi -finals
To fill zero, Vidarbha’s Ranji Trophy winning captain Akshay Wadkar Officially nominated as a replacement of Jurall. Wadkar, who led Vidarbha for the crown of his third Ranji Trophy in 2025, both bring both leadership skills and wicketkeeping expertise. Central Zone head coach Usman Ghani confirmed the decision, emphasizing the importance of including another wicketkeeper in Jurall’s absence.
“Yes, Wadkar is included in the Central Zone Team as Jurall is suffering from dengue. He is not available for the next game and we need another stumper,” Cricketcker was said.
Wadkar was initially ignored for the team despite a great domestic season, where he scored more than 700 runs and completed 24 dismissal behind the stumps. Their belts call-up now offers a central region with an experienced option at a time when their squad has been weakened by multiple clearances.
In addition to Jurael, the central zone will also be without a star spinner Kuldeep YadavWho took out due to national commitments. Kuldeep’s absence further reduced the bowling attack, putting additional responsibility on the choice of Deepak Char, Khalel Ahmed and Yash Thakur.
Updated Central Zone Squad for Dilip Trophy semi -finals
The revised Central Zone Squad for the Dilip Trophy semi -finals is as follows:
Rajat Patidar (C), Akshay Wadkar, Aryan Juyal, Danish Malewar, Sanjeet Desai, Yash Thakur, Aditya Thackeray, Deepak Char, Summary Jain, Ayush Pandey, Shubham Sharma, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dub,
Standbis: Madhav Kaushik, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Mahipal Lomorore, Kuldeep Sen, Upendra Yadav.