Central Zone’s captain Rajat Patidar.
| Photo Credit: PTI
India batter Rajat Patidar will lead Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy, starting later this month at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
India middle-order batter Rinku Singh will be the deputy to Patidar, the two-time IPL winning skipper with Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Off-spinner Saransh Jain has also been named in the squad but he is certain to miss at least the initial part of the domestic season opener since he is a part of the India Test squad to tour Sri Lanka.
Jain is tipped to make his Test debut at Galle since off-spin all-rounder Washington Sundar was ruled out of the first match.
The first Test starts on August 15 at the Galle International Stadium, and the second Test will begin in Colombo from August 23.
The Duleep Trophy will run at the BCCI CoE from August 23 to September 10.
Central Zone squad for Duleep Trophy: Rajat Patidar (captain), Rinku Singh (vice-captain), Aryan Juyal (wicketkeeper), Saransh Jain, Aman Mokhade, Kunal Chandela, Zeeshan Ansari, Aryan Pandey, Arshad Khan, Ayush Pandey, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Kunal Singh Rathod (wk), Yash Thakur and Nachiket Bhute.
Stand-by players: Amandeep Khare, Mayank Mishra, Saurabh Rawat, Bhargav Merai, Kunal Yadav and Kumar Kartikeya.
Published – August 02, 2026 12:33 am IST
