Tilak Varma to captain South Zone in the 2025 Edition of Duleep Trophy
The 22-year-old Tilak, who has played four ODIs and 25 T20Is, was in fine touch for Hampshire recently, smashing 100, 56, 47 and 112 in four innings for the English county side.
Kerala players were rewarded for their excellent run till the Ranji Trophy final as four players from the state found place in the 16-member squad.
They were: Mohammed Azharuddeen, who will be Tilak's deputy, MD Nidheesh, Basil NP and Salman Nizar.
Tamil Nadu batter Narayan Jagadeesan, who has flown to England as a cover for the injured Rishabh Pant, senior left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore and middle-order batter Devdutt Padikkal too are in the squad.
India and Karnataka pacer Vyshak Vijaykumar will lead the South Zone bowling attack.
Meanwhile, prolific batter R Smaran, who was Karnataka's highest run-getter in last season's Ranji Trophy with 516 runs, has been included as a standby, possibly because of the unspecified injury that he picked up in May that prevented him from joining IPL side Sunrisers Hyderabad.
This year the Duleep Trophy will return to the Zonal format between six teams, deviating from the previous years' set-up of India A, B, C and D.
The senior national selectors picked the sides when the tournament was played in the A, B, C and D format, but now the teams will be picked by respective zone selectors.
The four-day tournament will be played here at the BCCI Centre of Excellence grounds from August 28.
North Zone will face East Zone while Central Zone will take on North East Zone in the quarterfinal matches.
South Zone and West Zone have got a direct entry into the semifinals.
South Zone squad: Tilak Varma (captain), Mohammed Azharuddeen (vice-captain), Tanmay Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohit Kale, Salman Nizar, Narayan Jagadeesan, T. Vijay (Andhra), R Sai Kishore, Tanay Thyagarajan, Vyshak Vijaykumar, MD Nidheesh, Ricky Bhui, Basil NP, Gurjapneet Singh, Snehal Kauthankar.
Stand-by: Mohit Redkar, R Smaran, Ankit Sharma, Edhen Apple Tom, Andre Siddarth, Shaikh Rasheed.
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Deccan Herald
42 minutes ago
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South Zone selection shocker for Karnataka
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an hour ago
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India was zero for two at the start of the innings but this was followed by 188-run partnership between K L Rahul (90) and Shubman (103). Today again at lunch, a crisis loomed. The two big hopes Shubman and Rahul, after their marathon partnership, were back in the hut. India was 223 for four. There was another mountain to climb in front of them. With Pant to bat on one foot, they had to bat two full sessions. That's when two rather low-key cricketers — all-rounders who aren't in news too often — picked up the baton; it was more like taking up the gauntlet. But Jadeja and Sundar didn't allow the pressure of the scoreboard or their constantly bullying rivals get to them. Stokes tried every trick he knew. He would test them with a disciplined line, he would surround them with fielders with the spinner on a pitch with patches and even try to intimidate with short-balls. Nothing worked on this Sunday. There is a certain nonchalance about the way Jadeja and Washington conduct themselves on the pitch. They look relaxed, they keep smiling and are almost aloof to the surroundings and the situation. They don't even confront the opposition. They actually chat them up. They don't rile their opponent, they don't trigger fights. Jadeja and Washington, with their solid play, dilute the opposition's aggression. Jadeja, despite his numbers, isn't quite counted among the game's greats but today he joined the list of legends. Washington's place in the playing XI has been repeatedly questioned but today he shut the mouths of his doubters for good. As Jadeja added a hundred to his four 50s on this tour he was on par with the greatest all-rounder Gary Sobers for runs scored in England. Washington, the spinner, had done his bit at Lord's with four wickets in an innings. At Old Trafford, he showed what he can do with the bat. He justified the team management's trust in him. His numbers with both bat and ball showed, he can do the job of two specialists. This could well go down in the history of the Indian team as a very important draw. Had India lost this Test, and also the next, the course of Indian cricket might have changed dramatically. There were reputations at stake. After Shubman's outburst against Zak Crawley at Lord's when he was wasting time, the English media was floating the narrative the young skipper had been impacted by the episode and lost touch. When India was on field and their bowlers were leaking runs, the pundits said the Indian captain was too passive. It was certainly his worst day as a captain but he showed the resilience to bounce back. He made amends, he led India's recovery. The team's senior-most batsman Rahul also often gets blamed for not scoring in important situations. At Old Trafford, he changed that impression. Coach Gambhir would have lost his third straight series, and there would have been calls of his outster. But after Old Trafford, that might not be. This team is showing a new culture and character. But what might have pleased the team management most must have been India regrouping after the fall of Rahul and Shubman. Most of India's famous wins or draws have been about individual brilliance but this team takes cricket as a team sport. The last time India saved a game after conceding a big lead was in New Zealand at Napier where Gambhir had scored a match-saving 137 off 437 balls while batting for nearly 11 hours. He was asked if he had spoken about Napier in the dressing room. Gambhir almost didn't allow the question to be completed. He said: 'I don't remember any of my knocks, it's history. These players will make their own history. Honestly, no one needs to follow anyone or even wants to. They will make their own history. The way we have been written off in this Test match, this is the foundation of this team.' Before the tour had started, this was said to be a team in transition but a win of this nature makes it feel that the transition is over.
