Star India Players To Miss Duleep Trophy 2025, South Zone Turn Down BCCI's Direct Instructions Ahead Of Inter-Zonal Tournament: Report

The upcoming 2025 edition of the Duleep Trophy is all set to begin from August 28, 2025. The Duleep Trophy, which is also a premier domestic tournament, is a stage for the budding India players to test their skills against the players who represent India on the international stage. After India's horrid Test run against New Zealand and Australia, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had reportedly made it mandatory for all the senior players to compete in domestic tournaments.

South Zone Defy BCCI Directive

The likes of KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Sai Sudharsan, and Prasidh Krishna are unlikely to play the Duleep Trophy that starts in a few days' time from now on. The players who represent India at the highest level haven't been named in the South Zone squad. As per a report in Cricbuzz, the South Zone selectors have chosen not to follow the Board of Control for Cricket in India's directive to include the centrally contracted players.

Other sources reveal that the South Zone officials have stuck to the side that they had announced on July 26. Tilak Varma remains the only centrally contracted player in South Zone's squad so far. The state associations had received a mail from the BCCI over a month ago, but the South Zone selectors have decided not to act on it.

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South Zone squad: Tilak Varma (captain), Mohammed Azharuddeen (vice-captain, wk), Tanmay Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohit Kale, Salman Nizar, N Jagadeesan (wk), T Vijay, R Sai Kishore, Tanay Thyagarajan, Vyshak Vijaykumar, MD Nidheesh, Ricky Bhui, Basil NP, Gurjapneet Singh, Snehal Kauthankar

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Shubman Gill Likely To Miss Duleep Trophy 2025

India's Test captain and T20I vice-captain, Shubman Gill is likely to miss the Duleep Trophy 2025 opener. It has been reported that the young Indian Test skipper is ill, and he might give the inter-zonal tournament a miss. Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana might also miss the significant bit of the tournament considering the fact that they have been named in India's T20I squad to play the Asia Cup.