New Delhi, India— The East Zone selection committee for the Duleep Trophy made news with its roster announcement. It brought back experienced player Mohammed Shami to red-ball cricket and put up-and-coming player Vaibhav Suryavanshi on standby, which was a surprise. The 15-member team, which was announced on Thursday, will be commanded by Ishan Kishan, who plays for India, while Abhimanyu Easwaran, who opens for Bengal, will be his second-in-command.
Shami’s Comeback to Red-Ball Cricket
After being out of first-class cricket for almost nine months, 34-year-old Mohammed Shami is making a big comeback. In November 2024, he last played for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy. His last Test match was the World Test Championship final in June 2023. This Duleep Trophy stint shows that the veteran pacer really wants to go back into long-format cricket, especially after a good IPL 2025 season where he took six wickets in nine games for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Shami’s experience should make East Zone’s speed assault even stronger. It already has well-known players like Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep.
People are surprised that Vaibhav Suryavanshi was left out.
People are especially upset about the fact that 14-year-old batting star Vaibhav Suryavanshi was left out of the main 15. During India Under-19’s recent tour of England, Suryavanshi wowed the cricket world by hitting the fastest century in Youth ODI history. Even if he has done something amazing and has a lot of potential, the young prodigy is now on the six-member standby list.
It looks like the East Zone selectors put a lot of weight on a mix of experience and consistent performance in domestic competitions. Virat Singh and Sharandeep Singh from Jharkhand, who were the leading run-scorers in the last Ranji Trophy season, have kept their spots on the main team. Also, Manishi, an Assam spinner who took 22 wickets during the Ranji season, has been added.
Important Absences and Information About the Tournament
Sudip Chatterjee, who was Bengal’s top scorer in the 2024–25 Ranji Trophy, is not in the squad, which is interesting. Sudip Kumar Gharami, who plays with him, is also on the standby list.
A six-member zonal panel from Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, and Tripura chose the winners. Saurabh Tiwary from Jharkhand was in charge of the panel.
The Duleep Trophy 2025–26 will go back to its historic zonal format, which is different from how it has been done in the past. East Zone will start their campaign against North Zone in Bengaluru on August 28. South Zone won the last tournament in this format, which was held in 2023-24.
The East Zone Squad for the 2025-26 Duleep Trophy is: Ishan Kishan (captain), Abhimanyu Easwaran (vice-captain), Sandeep Patnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Riyan Parag, Utkarsh Singh, Manishi, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, and Mohammed Shami.
Mukhtar Hussain, Aasirwad Swain, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Swastik Samal, Sudip Kumar Gharami, and Rahul Singh are on standby.