Shardul Thakur to lead West Zone

Shardul Thakur, the India allrounder, has been appointed the West Zone captain for the Duleep Trophy, to be played in Bengaluru from September 4. The 15-member squad was picked by the chief selectors of all the five member associations from the west zone in the meeting here on Friday.

Thakur, who played two Test matches in England, is the seniormost Test cricketer in the West Zone squad that also features three other Test cricketers from Mumbai. His elevation to the West Zone captaincy also indicates a possible change in guard at the helm of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy campaign.

The Hindu understands that the west zone selection committee in consultation with the national selection panel decided to not consider Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, the veteran batters who have been plying their trade in domestic cricket despite being ignored by the national selectors.

While the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan and Yashasvi Jaiswal have been selected once they conveyed their availability, Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube were not considered due to the impending clash between the Duleep Trophy and the Asia Cup. Jaiswal will thus in all likelihood pair up with Maharashtra captain Ruturaj Gaikwad in a formidable opening partnership.

The 15-member squad does not feature a Baroda player, with Mumbai expectedly dominating with seven members in the squad.

The squad

Shardul Thakur (Capt.), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Tushar Deshpande (all Mumbai), Aarya Desai, Jaymeet Patel, Manan Hingrajia, Arzan Nagwaswalla (all Gujarat), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Saurabh Nawale (wk, both Maharashtra), Harvik Desai (wk), Dharmendra Jadeja (both Saurashtra).