Rajat Patidar will lead Central Zone in the upcoming Duleep Trophy whereas India’s T20I vice-captain Tilak Varma will be South Zone’s captain. Patidar had led the Central Zone to glory in the previous edition of the tournament and his stature as a leader has grown to new heights after leading Royal Challengers Bengaluru to back-to-back IPL titles.

Patidar had scored 382 runs in five innings in 2025 at an average of 76.40 and had ended as the tournament’s highest run-getter.

Rinku Singh has been given the vice-captaincy for the Central Zone whereas recent India debutants Harsh Dubey and fast bowler Yash Thakur have also been picked. Saransh Jain, who recently received maiden India call-up, has been selected in the squad.

Central Zone squad for Duleep Trophy

Rajat Patidar (capt), Aryan Juyal (wk), Saransh Jain, Aman Mokhade, Kunal Chandela, Zeeshan Ansari, Aryan Pandey, Arshad Khan, Rinku Singh (vice-captain), Ayush Pandey, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Kunal Singh Rathod (wk), Yash Thakur, Nachiket Bhute.

On the other hand, Ricky Bhui has been named as South Zone’s vice-captain. Surprisingly, there is no place for Devdutt Padikkal in the squad despite left-hander’s consistent performances.

However, Karnataka’s batter Karun Nair and leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal have been included in the squad. Furthermore, Karnataka’s Smaran Ravichandran, who was the leading run scorer in the 2025–26 Ranji Trophy season, with 950 runs across 14 innings, has been included in the South Zone squad.

South Zone squad: N Tilak Varma (captain), Ricky Bhui (vice-captain), Abhinav Tejrana, Shaik Rasheed, K M Himateja, R Smaran, N Jagadeesan (wk), Karun Nair, Tanay Thyagarajan, Shreyas Gopal, K Sai Teja, T Vijay, Vidvath Kaverappa, H Aman Khan, and M D Nideesh