Shami, 34, was last in action in IPL 2025, where he picked up
six wickets in nine matches for his new team Sunrisers Hyderabad. His last first-class game was for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy in November 2024. That was his only red-ball outing since his last Test match for India - the World Test Championship final in June 2023.
There was no place in the East Zone squad for Sudip Chatterjee, Bengal's leading run-getter in last season's Ranji Trophy, while Sudip Kumar Gharami, their second highest run-getter, was part of the standbys.
Virat Singh and
Sharandeep Singh, Jharkhand's top-two run-scorers in the previous Ranji Trophy, were part of the squad, as well as left-arm spinner
Manishi, who took 22 wickets in seven matches.
The six-team Duleep Trophy is returning to the zonal format, with squads picked by the zonal selectors, and the tournament will kickstart the 2025-26 domestic season. Last season, the tournament had four teams - India A, B, C and D - that were picked by the national selectors. East Zone will play the domestic season's opening game against North Zone from August 28 at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
East Zone squad
Ishan Kishan (capt), Abhimanyu Easwaran (vc), Sandeep Patnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Riyan Parag, Utkarsh Singh, Manishi, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Shami
Standbys: Mukhtar Hussain, Aasirwad Swain, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Swastik Samal, Sudip Kumar Gharami, Rahul Singh