Duleep Trophy: Tilak, Rinku, Mukesh among players to watch out for

BCCI's season-opening 2023 Duleep Trophy, the inter-zonal first-class competition, is set to be hosted across multiple venues in Bengaluru from June 28 to July 16. Six teams across zones - North, South, East, West, Central and North-East - will participate in the tournament.

The winners of Central Zone vs East Zone and North-East Zone vs North Zone will play West Zone and South Zone - last year's finalists - respectively in the semi-finals from July 5. The final will be held at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on July 12.

Once known for providing a push to players in national contention, the competition has been fighting for relevance in recent times. Last year, it was reintroduced after a three-season break due to Covid-19.

Hanuma Vihari has been named South Zone captain with Mayank Agarwal, the highest run-scorer of 2022-23 Ranji Trophy, as his deputy. The squad also features some prominent IPL performers such as Hyderabad's Tilak Varma and Tamil Nadu's B Sai Sudharsan. Washington Sundar, meanwhile, will make a comeback of sorts from injuries.

Currently playing in the TNPL, Washington will have an opportunity to prove his long-format chops, particularly with the ball, with the selectors keen to ready back-ups for the Test squad, outside of the R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.

ESPNcricinfo understands the selectors are keen to see how he holds up, given Washington has been injury prone and is returning to top-flight cricket after missing much of IPL 2023 due to a hamstring injury. He's also featured in just two first-class games over the past two seasons.

KS Bharat, who featured for India in the World Test Championship [WTC] final last week, will be the frontline wicketkeeper. However, there's a possibility he won't be available for the tournament should he be picked in India's Test squad for the Caribbean tour. Andhra's Ricky Bhui is the second wicketkeeper in the squad.

South Zone: Hanuma Vihari (capt), Mayank Agarwal (vice-capt), B Sai Sudharsan, Ricky Bhui (wk), KS Bharat (wk), R Samarth, Washington Sundar, Sachin Baby, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Sai Kishore, V Kaverappa, V Vyshak, KV Sasikanth, Darshan Misal, Tilak Varma

Uttar Pradesh players dominate a formidable Central Zone squad led by fast bowler Shivam Mavi, who made his T20I debut earlier this year. Left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar, who has been on the fringes of India A and the national team, is part of the squad alongside Rinku Singh and Dhruv Jurel, who are both fresh off a breakthrough IPL 2023 for Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals respectively.

Over the past two seasons, Rinku and Jurel have also established themselves as all-format regulars for the state. They were the top two run-getters for UP in Ranji Trophy 2022-23, with 442 and 429 runs respectively. Rinku averages an impressive 59.89 across 59 first-class innings, with seven hundreds and 19 half-centuries.

Upendra Yadav, who was fast-tracked into the India A setup two years ago, is also part of the squad and is likely to be the first-choice wicketkeeper, with Akshay Wadkar, the Vidarbha captain, next in line. Wadkar, 28, is widely considered to be one of the best wicketkeepers in the country, and has a formidable record to boot - he averages 53.31 across 60 first-class innings with eight hundreds and ten fifties.

Central Zone squad: Shivam Mavi (capt), Vivek Singh, Himanshu Mantri, Kunal Chandela, Shubham Sharma, Amandeep Khare, Rinku Singh, Akshay Wadkar (wk), Upendra Yadav (wk & vice-capt), Dhruv Jurel, Saurabh Kumar, Manav Sathar, Saransh Jain, Avesh Khan, Yash Thakur

Prithvi Shaw has been named in West Zone's squad that will be led by Gujarat's Priyank Panchal. There are two other openers in Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal, but there's a possibility at least one of them, if not both, will be on the flight to the Caribbean for the two-Test tour and hence miss the Duleep Trophy.

This is why the zonal panel was informed to not consider Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Jaydev Unadkat and Suryakumar Yadav for the tournament.

Arpit Vasavada, Saurashtra's stand-in captain who played a stellar role in their Ranji Trophy 2022-23 triumph, has been rewarded with a berth at 34, while all-round performances have also hauled Baroda's Atit Sheth and Mumbai's Shams Mulani into the squad. Mulani was the second highest wicket-taker last Ranji season with 46 wickets in 14 innings. Saurashtra left-arm seamer Chetan Sakariya will lead the pace attack.

West Zone squad: Priyank Panchal (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harvik Desai (wk), Prithvi Shaw, Het Patel (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Arpit Vasavada, Atit Seth, Shams Mulani, Yuvraj Dodiya, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Chetan Sakariya, Chintan Gaja, Arzan Nagwaswalla

The Bengal trio of Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep and Ishan Porel, arguably the country's best pace attack in the domestic circuit, will potentially line-up for East Zone in the Abhimanyu Easwaran-led squad. Anustup Majumdar, at 38, will be among the oldest players to feature in the competition.

Majumdar played a key role in Bengal's inspired run to the final, finishing the Ranji season as the third-highest run-scorer with 867 runs in 15 innings at an average of 61.92. Shahbaz Ahmed is the frontline allrounder, with Abishek Porel, Ishan's cousin, named as the wicketkeeper after Ishan Kishan requested for a break. Wriddhiman Saha did not want to be considered for selection at 40.

East Zone squad: Abhimanyu Easwaran (capt), Santanu Mishra, Sudip Gharami, Riyan Parag, A. Majumdar, Bipin Saurabh, A Porel (wk), K Kushagra (wk), Shahbaz Nadeem (vice-capt), Shahbaz Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Anukul Roy, M Mura Singh, Ishan Porel

He's 26, but the selectors have been impressed with what Jammu & Kashmir left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq offers as an allround option, which led to his selection into the North Zone squad captained by Punjab's Mandeep Singh. Mushtaq was J&K's leading wicket-taker with 32 wickets in seven games at an average of 14.37.

Prabhsimran Singh, Punjab's leading run-getter in the last Ranji Trophy season, has a chance to carry his IPL form into red-ball cricket, while Himachal's Ankit Kalsi has broken through after barging the door down with tall scores for the past three seasons. Kalsi and Prashant Chopra made 703 and 783 runs respectively in the previous Ranji season.

North Zone squad: Mandeep (capt), Prashant Chopra, Dhruv Shorey, Manan Vohra, Prabhsimran Singh, Ankit Kumar, Ankit Kalsi, Himanshu Rana, Abid Mushtaq, Jayant Yadav, Pulkit Narang, Nishant Sandhu, Siddarth Kaul, Vaibhav Arora, Baltej Singh

The selectors have resisted the temptation to pick professional players who feature regularly for the new entrants in the domestic circuit. This explains the absence of key performers such as Chetan Bist or Shrikant Mundhe. Nagaland's Rongsen Jonathan has been named captain, with Nilesh Lamichaney as his deputy.

North-East Zone squad: Rongsen Jonathan(capt), Nilesh Lamichaney (vice-capt), Kishan Lyngdoh, Langlonyamba, AR Ahlawat, Joseph Lalthankhuma, Prafullamani (wicketkeeper), Dippu Sangma, Jotin Pheiroijam, Imliwati Lemtur, Palzor Tamang, Kishan Singha, Akash Kumar Choudhary, Rajkumar Rex Singh, Nagaho Chishi.