Having enjoyed a stupendous run with the bat on the just-concluded tour of England in his first Test series as India captain, Shubman Gill’s next assignment will be as North Zone skipper in the Duleep Trophy starting August 28 in Bengaluru.
In the series against the Englishmen that finished 2-2, Gill was in celestial touch, amassing 754 runs at an average of 75.4, including four hundreds.
In the Duleep Trophy, Gill will be leading a 15-member squad that includes the likes of Anshul Kamboj, Arshdeep Singh, and Harshit Rana. Kamboj made his Test debut against England at Old Trafford in the fourth game of the series. Arshdeep was also part of the squad in England but didn’t get to play.
With the Duleep Trophy concluding on September 15, it will clash with the Asia Cup that is slated to begin on September 9 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
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In the event that Gill is picked for India’s T20I team for the multi-nation tournament, Services’ Shubham Rohilla will replace the star batter in the North Zone contingent. If Arshdeep and Harshit are picked for the Asia Cup, Punjab’s Gurnoor Brar and Haryana’s Anuj Thakral will be drafted in as replacements.
The domestic competition, which is returning to the zonal format this year, is an opportunity for Gill to gain further experience of captaincy in First Class cricket. He has so far captained in 10 First Class games.
NORTH ZONE SQUAD
Shubman Gill (c), Shubham Khajuria, Ankit Kumar (vc), Ayush Badoni, Yash Dhull, Ankit Kalsi, Nishant Sindhu, Sahil Lotra, Mayank Dagar, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Anshul Kamboj, Auqib Nabi, Kanhaiya Wadhawan (wk)
Stand-by: Shubham Arora (wk), Jaskaranvir Singh Paul, Ravi Chauhan, Abid Mushtaq, Nishunk Birla, Umar Nazir, Divesh Sharma
