The beginning of the Indian domestic season will coincide with the Duleep Trophy 2025. The 2025 Duleep Trophy will be played between 28th August and 11 st September, and this highly anticipated domestic annual cricket tournament will be played at Bangalore. Duleep Trophy can be rated as one of the most notable domestic red-ball cricketing events in India. In the past, players would represent different zones within the country, but it was in the last season of this tournament that players were divided into four teams: India A, India B, India C, and India D.
Duleep Trophy Format, Venue and Match dates
Since this is the Duleep Trophy is a first-class cricket tournament, no particular number of overs per innings is coined. The Duleep Trophy lasts five days, and the rest of the matches that are played take four days. These matches will be hosted at the Centre of Excellence grounds at BCCI, located in Bengaluru, and the Duleep Trophy is a traditional knockout tournament.
Match Dates:
- Quarter Finals: Quarter finals matches will be played from 28th August to 31st August, between four zones [ North Zone vs East Zone and Central Zone vs North-East Zone].
- Semi Finals: Semi Finals will be played from 4th September to 7th September.
- Finals: The Final match will take place on 11th September.
Zone and Team Overview
Duleep Trophy involves four zones, i.e., North Zone, South Zone, West Zone, East Zone, Central Zone, and North-East Zone. All the names of the captains from different zones are announced except the North-East Zone.
Here are the five captains for the Duleep Trophy 2025. 🔥
— Sportskeeda (@Sportskeeda) August 7, 2025
Who will win the trophy this season? 👀#Cricket #Gill #DuleepTrophy #BCCI pic.twitter.com/QaDdtxlJNQ
The captain of North Zone is Shubman Gill, the Test Captain of India. The fact that the Asia Cup and the Duleep Trophy are scheduled for around the same time, Gill’s squad also includes possible India selections. However, the selection committee has prepared for such a possibility.
“It was discussed and decided in the meeting that, in the event Shubman Gill, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, or any of them are selected for the Indian team during the upcoming series coinciding with the Duleep Trophy tournament, the following replacements will be made: Shubham Rohilla (Services) will replace Shubman Gill, Gurnoor Brar will replace Arshdeep Singh [and] Anuj Thukral will replace Harshit Rana.” [ Source: Cricbuzz]
North Zone Squad: Shubman Gill (Captain, Punjab), Shubham Khajuria (J&K), Ankit Kumar (Vice-Captain, Haryana), Ayush Badoni (Delhi), Yash Dhull (Delhi), Ankit Kalsi (Himachal Pradesh), Nishant Sandhu (Haryana), Sahil Lotra (J&K), Mayank Dagar (Himachal Pradesh), Yudhvir Singh Charak (J&K), Arshdeep Singh (Punjab), Harshit Rana (Delhi), Anshul Kamboj (Haryana), Auqib Nabi (J&K), Kanhaiya Wadhawan (J&K, wicketkeeper) and the standbys are: Shubham Arora (Himachal Pradesh), Jaskaranvir Singh Paul (Punjab), Ravi Chauhan (Services), Abid Mushtaq (J&K), Nishunk Birla (Chandigarh), Umar Nazir (J&K), Divesh Sharma (Himachal Pradesh)
Key Players: The test captain Shubman Gill will be back to domestic cricket, Arshdeep Singh the left arm pacer could be huge asset to north zone, he has international experience, Harshit Rana is a force to reckon hence the formidable fast bowler and Anshul Kamboj the all rounder, and Ankit Kumar the high scoring batsman of Haryana in last seasons Ranji Trophy, Aquib Nabi the highest wicket taker of the recent 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season.
2. 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. Standbys: Mohit Redkar, R Smaran, Ankit Sharma, Eden Apple Tom, Andre Siddarth, Shaikh Rasheed.
Key Players: Tilak Verma, the captain of South Zone, is in great form currently with Hampshire in the County Cricket, Mohammed Azharuddeen, the wicket-keeper batsman and also the vice captain of South Zone, contributed significantly to Kerala’s incredible journey to their first Ranji Trophy final, Narayan Jagdessan can play a pivotal role for his batting prowess, Devdutt Padikkal is an experienced player and a top-order batter, R. Sai Kishore’s Spin Control can strengthen the spin department.
3. East Zone Squad: Ishan Kishan (C)(WK), Abhimanyu Easwaran (VC), Sandeep Pattnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra (WK), Riyan Parag, Utkarsh Singh, Manishi, Suraj Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Shami. Standbys: Mukhtar Hussain, Aasirwad Swain, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Swastik Samal, Sudip Kumar Gharami, Rahul Singh.
Key Players: Captain of East Zone, Ishan Kishan, has demonstrated his potential in county cricket, Abhimanyu Eshwaran, the Bengal player and the vice-captain of South Zone, has always been consistent in domestic cricket, Mohammed Shami, a right-arm fast bowler, can be a key person across South Zone, Akash Deep, the recent showcasing of his wicket taking abilities in the India vs England match, can play a game changing role in South Zone, Riyan Parag can bring his aggressive batting and bowling into the team.
4. West Zone Squad: Shardul Thakur (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Aarya Desai, Harvik Desai, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jaymeet Patel, Manan Hingrajia, Saurabh Nawale, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Dharmendra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Arzan Nagwaswala. Standbys: Mahesh Pithiya, Shivalik Sharma, Mukesh Choudhary, Siddharth Desai, Chintan Gaja, Musheer Khan, Urvil Patel.
Key Players: For the upcoming Duleep Trophy, Shardul Thakur is named as the captain of the West Zone Squad, and Thakur is an explosive all-rounder player, then, Yashasvi Jaiswal, the dynamic openar, could play a pivotal role in West Zone’s batting lineup, Shreyas Iyer is a key player for the middle orders, Ruturaj Gaikwad’s batting skills cam add solidarity and temperament in the squad, Tushar Deshpande’s pace and Shams Mulani’s spin will also be a key factor for West Zone.
5. Central Zone Sqaud: Dhruv Jurel (c, wk), Rajat Patidar (vc – subject to fitness clearance), Aryan Juyal, Danesh Malewar, Sanchit Desai, Kuldeep Yadav, Aditya Thakre, Deepak Chahar, Saransh Jain, Ayush Pande,y Shubham Sharma, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed. Standbys: Madhav Kaushik, Yash Thakur, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Mahipal Lomror, Kuldeep Sen, Upendra Yadav.
Key Players: Dhruv Jurel is an emerging player, and his consistency with the bat is commendable, and Rajat Patidar is an experienced batsman, Kuldeep Yadav, Harsh Dubey and Manav Suthar’s spin will be a key factor for the spin department, Khaleel Ahmed and Deepak Chahar are here to handle the seam department of Central Zone, then Yash Rathod is here to support the batting line-up of Central Zone and he was also the top run scorer of last Ranji Season.
6. North-East Zone Squad: North-East Zone has not declared their squad so far.
The Duleep Trophy provides the youngsters with an opportunity to express their potential. Good performances, especially in the red-ball cricket, can put the individual in a red-ball view of the Indian team with the drive of the zonal system back as there are the Asia Cup and additional tests in the picture.
A lot of anticipation precedes the comeback of the Duleep Trophy in the zonal format. This will be a competition that has established and upcoming players who will be competing on a knockout basis. Either by fueling the careers of old resultants or by introducing new ones, the Duleep Trophy 2025 promises some captivating red-ball action in the heart of Bengaluru.
Tanya Singh 
Poorvisha R
Nice details,keep it up