Duleep Trophy kicks off with double header

The Duleep Trophy, Indian domestic cricket's inter-zonal tournament, begins on Thursday with two four-day matches: South Zone take on West Zone in Indore, while Central Zone do battle with East Zone in Gwalior.

Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian captain, will lead East Zone. After his failure in the recent Challenger Trophy, the tournament is another opportunity for Ganguly to prove his form for a return to the national side. Meanwhile, VVS Laxman, who missed the Challenger Trophy due to a hamstring injury, has been appointed captain of South Zone. Wasim Jaffer, the Test opener, will lead West Zone.

Zaheer Khan, the left-arm fast bowler, has also targetted the Duleep Trophy for a comeback. India tour South Africa for five one-day internationals and three Tests from November, and thus the tournament provides ample opportunities to impress.

The Duleep Trophy tournament consists of six teams, divided into two pools, which play each other in four-day matches. Five of the competing teams are Indian, while the sixth is an overseas side. This season, Sri Lanka A has been included after conflicting playing schedules forced the Nashua Dolphins to pull out.

The 2005-06 competition was won by West Zone after they beat East Zone by five wickets in the final.

For the full schedule of the 2006 Duleep Trophy, click here.

East Zone: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Lakshmi Shukla, Deep Dasgupta (wk), Subhomoy Das, Shib Shankar Das, Ranadeb Basu, Debasish Mohanty, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Sourashish Lahiri, Ashis Sinha, Pravanjan Das, S S Rao, D Mohan, S Saigal, P Mallick and Ashoke Dinda.

South Zone: VVS Laxman (capt), Venugopal Rao, Anil Kumble, S Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa, Sreesanth, L Balaji, Pragyan Ojha, Gnaneshwar Rao, Arjun Yadav, Ibrahim Khaleel, Swapnil Asnodkar, Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh.

West Zone: Wasim Jaffer (capt), Parthiv Patel (wk), Dhiraj Jadhav, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Amol Muzumdar, Kiran Powar, Sairaj Bahutule, Vinit Indulkar, Rajesh Pawar, Zaheer Khan, Siddharth Trivedi, Ravindra Jadeja, Suyash Burkul and Sanjay Maniar.

North Zone: Mithun Manhas (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Akash Chopra, Ravneet Ricky, Sachin Rana, Yashpal Singh, Mahesh Rawat (wk), M Bisla, Ashish Nehra, VRV Singh, Gagandeep Singh, Joginder Sharma, Rajesh Sharma, Virat Kohli, Vishal Bhatia.

Sri Lanka A: Thilan Samaraweera (Capt.), Jehan Mubarak, Michael Vandort, Mahela Udawatte, Jeevan Mendis, Malintha Warnapura, Kaushal Silva (wk), Upul Chandana, Rangana Herath, Chamara Silva, Dhammika Prasad, Tharanga Lakshitha, Akalanga Ganegama, Ishara Amarasinghe, Kosala Kulasekara.