Duleep Trophy: Shardul Thakur to lead the West Zone; no Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara in the squad

BCCI has announced the schedule for the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2025 which begins on August 28 in Bengaluru. After this, the announcement of the names of team captains has also started. This time also, like the old format, teams from four zones will participate in it. Now, as per the latest developments, the squad of West Zone has been announced.

While Shardul Thakur has been made the new captain of the team, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara have not found a place in the team.

Also Read: Sachin-Sourav, Mahela-Sanga: 5 best cricketing friendships in history

Shreyas and Jaiswal will play under Shardul's captaincy

The West Zone team has been announced for the Duleep Trophy. This time the captaincy has been handed over to Shardul Thakur. Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal will be seen playing under the captaincy of Shardul Thakur. Apart from this, Sarfaraz Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Tushar Deshpande have also been included in the team.  

However, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, who have been playing continuously for this team, are not seen in the squad this time.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane last played a Test match for India in 2023. Pujara played a crucial role in India’s Test series victories in Australia in 2018-19 and 2020-21. Notably, Rahane captained Team India to a memorable Border-Gavaskar Trophy win in 2020-21 despite several key players being unavailable.

Shreyas Iyer set to available for West Zone

Shreyas Iyer had made himself available for the upcoming Duleep Trophy. The middle-order batter has played 14 Test matches for India. However, he has not been part of the Test setup since February 2024, when he last featured against England.

Iyer was a key figure in India’s Champions Trophy-winning campaign in Dubai earlier this year. He also scored 480 runs in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy at an average of 68.57, including two centuries. He continued his form into the IPL, where he led Punjab Kings to their first final in over a decade.

Also Read: ICC Rankings: Abhishek Sharma becomes No.1 T20I batter, Gill and Hardik at top in ODI, Bumrah in tests

Duleep Trophy | West Zone squad

Shardul Thakur (Capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Aarya Desai, Harvik Desai (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jaymeet Patel, Manan Hingrajia, Saurabh Nawale (wk), Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Dharmendra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Arzan Nagwaswala.

Duleep Trophy 2025 full schedule

According to Cricbuzz, South Zone and West Zone have been handed direct qualification into the Duleep Trophy 2025 semifinals. And the two quarterfinals are already set.