The East Zone has suffered a significant blow ahead of the Duleep Trophy 2025, as skipper Ishan Kishan has been ruled out of the six-team competition. The team had already lost pacer Akash Deep, making this another challenge for the side. In Kishan’s absence, Abhimanyu Easwaran has been appointed as the new captain.
Kishan, who was expected to be a marquee player in the tournament, has been sidelined due to fitness concerns ahead of the upcoming Asia Cup 2025. The wicketkeeper-batter, who last played for Nottinghamshire in the County Championship in June, had only recently been named skipper. He was aiming to regain form and prove his fitness through the Duleep Trophy, even undergoing a check at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE).
“𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑰𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕. 𝑾𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑬𝒂𝒔𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔,” 𝒂 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔.
To fill the void, 20-year-old Aashirwad Swain has been drafted into the squad. Swain, who has impressed in age-group cricket, will join fellow Odia batter Sandeep Pattnaik, with Swastik Samal included as a standby option.
Abhimanyu Easwaran Steps Up as Captain
The leadership baton now passes to Bengal batter Abhimanyu Easwaran, who was initially overlooked for captaincy despite his experience. Easwaran, recently part of India’s Test squad against England and captain of the India A side, has been a stalwart of Bengal’s batting for nearly a decade, amassing over 7,800 runs in 103 first-class matches.
Despite his consistency, Easwaran has yet to make his debut for India. Since his first national call-up, around 15 players—including Kishan—have earned Test caps. Easwaran was most recently on the bench during the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, which ended in a 2-2 draw.
“𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑬𝒂𝒔𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝑬𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒁𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑 𝒖𝒑,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒂 𝑩𝑪𝑪𝑰 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓.
For Kishan, this marks yet another frustrating period, following a scooter accident earlier this year that forced him to miss the final Test against England. The Duleep Trophy had been a vital chance for him to re-establish himself in the domestic and national setup, but this injury once again stalls his comeback plans.
East Zone Squad for Duleep Trophy 2025
Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Aashirwad Swain (WK), Sandeep Pattnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Riyan Parag, Utkarsh Singh, Manishi, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Mukhtar Hussain, Mohammed Shami
Standbys: Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Swastik Samal, Sudip Kumar Gharami, Rahul Singh
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