Shardul Thakur will lead the West Zone team in the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2025, the zonal selection committee announced on Friday. In a star-studded line-up featuring Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, and Ruturaj Gaikwad, the committee chose Mumbai’s bowling all-rounder Thakur to captain the side. The reason for not naming Shreyas Iyer as skipper is due to the likelihood of his selection in India’s Asia Cup squad, which is scheduled to begin on September 9 as reported by Express Sports. The Duleep Trophy is set to kick off on August 28 in Bengaluru.
Thakur’s Success
Thakur has played a crucial role in Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy success in recent years, making important contributions with both bat and ball. Over the past two seasons, where Mumbai has often relied on lower-order runs, Thakur has been central to their efforts, along with Tanush Kotian and Shams Mulani.
The two all-rounders, Kotian and Mulani, also join Thakur in the West Zone squad, which also includes pacer Tushar Deshpande. Earlier, Iyer had expressed his availability to participate in the Duleep Trophy. Iyer, who has played 14 Tests for India, has scored one century and five fifties in the format. However, he hasn’t featured in a Test match since February 2024 against England. Despite that, he was an integral part of the Indian squad that lifted the 50-over Champions Trophy title in Dubai earlier this year.
More recently, Iyer captained Punjab Kings in IPL 2025 and led them to the final, where they finished as runners-up after losing to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Ahmedabad. Though he missed the Test tour of England, the selectors opted to pick Karun Nair instead, citing his strong recent domestic performances.
The 2025–26 domestic season will begin with the Duleep Trophy on August 28 and conclude with the Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal Multi-Day Trophy on April 3, 2026. The Ranji Trophy is scheduled to begin on October 15, with Phase 1 continuing until November 19. Phase 2, the Elite stage, will run from January 22 to February 1, 2026. This season, the Duleep Trophy returns to the zonal format. Squads are picked by state selectors from the respective zones. South Zone were the champions of the last edition held in the 2023–24 season.
West Zone Squad: Shardul Thakur (Captain), Yashsvi Jaiswal, Aarya Desai, Harvik Desai (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jaymeet Patel, Manan Hingraji, Saurabh Nawale (WK), Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Dharmendra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Arzan Nagwaswala
