Returning to its inter-zonal format, the Duleep Trophy will take place in Bengaluru from August 28 to September 15. The competition will use a knockout format, and the games will take place at the Center of Excellence grounds. The competition, which has returned to the inter-zonal structure following a one-season break, will involve six zones: South, Central, West, East, North, and North-East.
Direct seeds for the semifinals have been assigned to the South and West Zone teams. The dates of the two quarterfinal matches are August 28–31.The matches will pit North Zone against East Zone and Central Zone against North-East Zone. The semifinals will take place from September 4–7, while the final will begin on September 11.
From the 2016–17 to the 2019–20 seasons, the competition was played amongst teams named India A, B, C, and D that were chosen at random by the national selectors. Last year, it went back to the A-B-C-D format, but in 2022–2023 it went back to the zonal model. The tournament is back to the zonal structure this season after a BCCI resolution at the most recent AGM. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the competition was also put on hold for a few seasons.
The South Zone side will be captained by Hyderabad batsman Tilak Varma in the 2025–2026 domestic season opener.
Despite missing Hyderabad’s Ranji Trophy 2024–25 due to international obligations last season, Tilak was named captain at the South Zone selectors’ meeting held on Saturday at the Siechem Stadium in Pondicherry.
But since joining Hampshire for his first County term last month, the 22-year-old southpaw has been in excellent scoring form. In his first match against Essex, Tilak scored a century and followed it up with runs of 56, 47, and 100 in his next four innings.
Mohammed Azharuddeen, a batsman for Kerala, was named the vice-captain after he produced a career-best score of 177 in the Ranji semi-final in Ahmedabad. Salman Nizar, a batsman, and pacers Basil NP and Nidheesh MD were among the four players picked in the Kerala XI from their first Ranji Trophy final participation from the previous season.
R Smaran, who led the Karnataka charts with 516 runs in the previous Ranji season, was chosen a standby, while Hyderabad opener Tanmay Agarwal, who scored 934 runs in seven games during their comeback to the Elite category, was also included.
Internationals Devdutt Padikkal and R Sai Kishore have also been called up, along with Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper N Jagadeesan, who earned his first India call-up following Rishabh Pant’s injury for the forthcoming fifth Test match against England at the Oval.
South Zone Duleep Trophy 2025 squad: Tilak Varma (c) (Hyderabad), Mohammed Azharuddeen (vc) (Kerala), Tanmay Agarwal (Hyderabad), Devdutt Padikkal (Karnataka), Mohit Kale (Pondicherry), Salman Nizar (Kerala), Narayan Jagadeesan (Tamil Nadu), Tripurana Vijay (Andhra), R Sai Kishore (Tamil Nadu), Tanay Thyagarajan (Hyderabad), Vijaykumar Vyshak (Karnataka), Nidheesh MD (Kerala), Ricky Bhui (Andhra), Basil NP (Kerala), Gurjapneet Singh (Tamil Nadu), Snehal Kauthankar (Goa)
Stand-by players: Mohit Redkar (Goa), R Smaran (Karnataka), Ankit Sharma (Pondicherry), Edhen Apple Tom (Kerala), Andre Siddarth (Tamil Nadu), Shaikh Rasheed (Andhra)
