Ishan Kishan, East Zone’s captain, has been disqualified from the six-team tournament, causing them to suffer yet another blow ahead of the Duleep Trophy. They have lost pacer Akash Deep’s services, so this comes after that. Abhimanyu Easwaran has been appointed captain since Kishan is not available.
It was anticipated that the wicketkeeper-batter would be among the tournament’s top players. However, he has been forced out due to fitness worries, especially with the Asia Cup 2025 approaching. Kishan had only been selected captain two weeks prior. He last played for Nottinghamshire in the County Championship in June.
He even checked in for a fitness evaluation at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) with the goal of redeeming himself through the Duleep Trophy. Aashirwad Swain, 20, has been drafted into the team to take his spot. Swastik Samal has been recruited as a standby, and Swain, who has performed well in age-group cricket, will join fellow Odia hitter Sandeep Pattnaik.
Bengal batsman Easwaran, who was initially an unexpected exclusion from the captaincy despite his experience, is now in charge. Easwaran, the captain of the India A team and a recent member of the Indian Test team against England, has been the mainstay of Bengal’s batting for almost ten years. Over 7800 runs have been scored by him in 103 first-class games.
Easwaran is still waiting for his India debut despite his consistency. Kishan is one of around 15 players who have made their Test debuts for India since his first national call-up. The most recent Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, which finished in a 2-2 draw, saw Easwaran sit on the bench.
In the case of Ishan Kishan, this is yet another setback. He has gone in and out of India teams in the last 12 months, and a tour match such as the Duleep Trophy is thus expected to be his key to re-opening his windows. In previous year, he has also lost the final Test against England through an ill-timed scooter accident and his new injury setback has once more held up his recovery plans.
East Zone Squad:
Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Aasirwad Swain (WK), Sandeep Patnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Riyan Parag, Utkarsh Singh, Manishi, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Mukhtar Hussain and Mohammed Shami
Standbys: Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Swastik Samal, Sudip Kumar Gharami and Rahul Singh
