Ankit, Rasheed added to South Zone squad for Duleep semi-final

South Zone have named Puducherry allrounder Ankit Sharma and Andhra top-order batter Shaik Rasheed as replacements for Tilak Varma and R Sai Kishore for the Duleep Trophy semi-final, which begins on September 4 at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.

Tilak, who was named South Zone captain, has been included in India's Asia Cup squad and will miss the Duleep Trophy games. As a result, Kerala wicket-keeper batter Mohammed Azharuddeen, who was initially named vice-captain, will now lead the South Zone side. Tamil Nadu's N Jagadeesan, who was also called up for the fifth Test of the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy last month, has been named vice-captain.

Sai Kishore, meanwhile, hasn't recovered from the finger injury which forced him to miss the pre-season Buchi Babu tournament in Chennai. He hurt his finger while intercepting a M Shahrukh Khan drive in his follow-through during a first-division club match in Chennai.

Ankit, 34, had the second-highest wickets for Puducherry in the 2024-25 Ranji season: 24 from seven matches at 28.95. He also scored 216 runs at 24.00. Rasheed, 20, who also turned out for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2025, was Andhra's highest run-scorer in the last Ranji season, recording 627 runs in 12 innings at 52.25, which included a double-century against Hyderabad.

Both Rasheed and Ankit had originally been named in South Zone's stand-by list.

South Zone will face North Zone in the semi-final, who qualified on the basis of a first-innings lead against East Zone in the quarter-final. In the other semi-final, Central Zone will face West Zone.

South Zone squad

Mohammed Azharuddeen (capt & wk), Tanmay Agarwal, Shaik Rasheed, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohit Kale, Salman Nizar, N Jagadeesan (wk), T Vijay, Ankit Sharma, Tanay Thyagarajan, Vyshak Vijaykumar, MD Nidheesh, Ricky Bhui, Basil NP, Gurjapneet Singh, Snehal Kauthankar.