Duleep Trophy 2026: A host of India’s fringe players will have the chance to further their case to be selected in the Test team as they will compete in a condensed but a highly competitive Duleep Trophy 2026, beginning on August 23, Sunday.
Six regional teams, Central Zone, South Zone, East Zone, West Zone, North Zone and North East Zone will compete for what is a hugely prestigious title. Notably, previous champions Central Zone and runners-up South Zone have directly progressed to the semi-finals. Hence, the remaining four zones will compete tooth and nail for a place in the top four.
The tournament starts with a couple of quarter finals, with East Zone facing the North East Zone as the two sides will play at the BCCI COE Ground 2 in Bengaluru.
When it comes to East Zone’s squad, all eyes will be on the 15-year-old batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who has been appointed as the vice-captain. Sooryavanshi, who has taken the shortest format by storm, has been equally a revelation in red-ball cricket in his limited outings. Ishan Kishan, who will lead the side, has some exciting bowling resources to bank on, with the likes of Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Shahbaz Ahmed and Anukul Roy in the mix.
North East Zone squad has some exciting names too but relatively unknown at the highest level. That could work in their favour at the end of the day, given the East Zone might take them lightly.
Duleep Trophy 2026: East Zone and North East Zone squads
East Zone Squad: Ishan Kishan (Captain & Wicketkeeper) (Jharkhand), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (Vice-Captain) (Bihar), Denish Das (Assam), Abhimanyu Easwaran (Bengal), Sudip Kumar Gharami (Bengal), Shahbaz Ahmed (Bengal), Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal (Bengal), Mohd Shami (Bengal), Mukesh Kumar (Bengal), Kumar Kushagra (Wicketkeeper) (Jharkhand), Shikhar Mohan (Jharkhand), Anukul Roy (Jharkhand), Virat Singh (Jharkhand), Subhranshu Senapati (Odisha), Abhijit Sarkar (Tripura).
North East Zone Squad: Jonathan Rongsen (Captain) (Nagaland), Bishworjit Singh Konthoujam (Vice-Captain) (Manipur), Techi Neri (Arunachal Pradesh), Priyojit K (Manipur), Ronald Meitei (Manipur), Jotin Singh Pheiroijam (Manipur), Kishan Lyngdoh (Meghalaya), Arpit Subhas (Wicketkeeper) (Meghalaya), Akash Kumar Choudhary (Meghalaya), Joseph Lalthankhuma (Mizoram), Lalrempouia (Mizoram), Imliwati Lemtur (Nagaland), Vino G Zhimomi (Nagaland), Robin Limboo (Sikkim), Ashish Thapa (Wicketkeeper) (Sikkim).
When and where to watch East Zone vs North East Zone Quarter-Final 1, Duleep Trophy 2026 in India?
Fans can catch the TV telecast of the game on Star Sports. The live streaming of the same shall be available on Jio Hotstar App and wesbite. The match will begin at 9:30 AM IST.