All five confirmed zonal captains in this year's Duleep Trophy are current IPL franchise players, with 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi named as East Zone vice-captain ahead of the August 23 quarter-finals at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
The Duleep Trophy 2026 squads were announced on 3 August, and the most striking line in Wisden's report is the captaincy list. Five of the six zonal captains are already on IPL franchise books: Tilak Varma for Mumbai Indians, Ishan Kishan for Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajat Patidar as the Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain who lifted the trophy in 2025, Ruturaj Gaikwad as the long-standing Chennai Super Kings captain, and Jammu & Kashmir wicketkeeper-batter Kanhaiya Wadhawan. The selectors have not yet named a captain for North East Zone, with the announcement expected before the first ball on August 23.
That alignment with the IPL makes this Duleep Trophy more than a domestic red-ball tune-up. Every captaincy call is also a tactical preview of how that franchise might shape its leadership depth chart ahead of the IPL 2026 retention window and the 2027 mega auction. Tilak Varma taking the South Zone armband signals an India push that goes beyond his Mumbai Indians middle-order role; Ishan Kishan's return to East Zone leadership, paired with the teenage vice-captain, hints at a state association willing to back experienced keepers as batting mentors. Patidar's defending champion Central Zone squad is built around Rinku Singh, Saransh Jain and Harsh Dubey, while Gaikwad's West Zone includes six Mumbai players and three Test-quality seam-bowling options.
Tilak Varma was named South Zone captain with Ricky Bhui as his vice-captain. The squad includes Karun Nair and R Smaran, who finished the recent Ranji Trophy season as the highest run-scorer, alongside N Jagadeesan, who keeps wicket. Kerala's MD Nidheesh leads the pace attack, with Vidwath Kaverappa and K Sai Teja as the other seam options. Shreyas Gopal adds legspin to a squad that already tilts towards spin control through T Thyagarajan and K Himateja.
For fantasy users tracking the IPL 2026 retention math, the South Zone list is a clear signal that Varma's leadership ceiling has been endorsed by the selectors beyond his Mumbai Indians middle-order role. Smaran's run-scoring form makes him the highest projected fantasy points scorer in the side if he retains his red-ball touch. Nair's inclusion is the more interesting fantasy angle: a senior batter who has moved between Karnataka, Vidarbha and now back to red-ball prominence, his slot at No. 3 or No. 4 could anchor the South Zone innings.
East Zone named Ishan Kishan as captain and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the Bihar teenager who had played only eight first-class matches, as vice-captain. Wisden reported that selectors chose Sooryavanshi over the more experienced Abhimanyu Easwaran, who has consistently performed in the domestic circuit. The decision is one of the youngest vice-captain appointments in recent Duleep Trophy history and underlines the selectors' appetite for long-term investment in batting talent.
The remaining East Zone squad is built around seam-bowling depth rather than batting flair. Mohammed Shami and Mukesh Kumar form a frontline pace pair that should be asking questions on a CoE 1 surface. Shahbaz Ahmed and Anukul Roy provide the spin options, with Suraj Jaiswal, Virat Singh and Kumar Kushagra filling the batting slots. Sudip Gharami and Subranshu Senapati round out the middle order. The fantasy angle here is straightforward: a red-ball team built around two frontline seamers usually rewards wicket-taking overs rather than run-glut innings, so captaincy candidates should skew towards bowlers rather than top-order batters.
Rajat Patidar will lead Central Zone in their title defence, with Rinku Singh, Harsh Dubey and Yash Thakur in the squad. The spin attack is led by Saransh Jain, who received his maiden call-up to India's Test side, alongside Dubey and Zeeshan Ansari. Aman Mokhade and Yash Rathod were rewarded for their consistent domestic-season performances. Central Zone enter the semi-finals directly on August 30 as defending champions, where they will face the winner of East Zone versus North East Zone.
For IPL 2026 fantasy users, the Central Zone captaincy is the most consequential of the five. Patidar's 2025 RCB captaincy established him as a tactical leader who is comfortable setting fields and rotating bowlers, and the Duleep Trophy semi-final will be the first chance to assess whether he can translate that limited-overs instinct into a four-day cricket setting. The presence of Saransh Jain, whose India Test call-up came on the back of left-arm spin control, makes Central Zone the strongest spin unit in the tournament.
Ruturaj Gaikwad will lead West Zone with Shams Mulani as deputy. The squad includes six Mumbai players, headlined by Shardul Thakur, Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan. Harvik Desai, Urvil Patel and Musheer Khan are the younger names. Mulani and Tanush Kotian lead the spin department, with Tushar Deshpande and Mukesh Choudhary forming the seam pair. Siddharth Desai, Atit Sheth and Shivalik Sharma add depth.
The West Zone squad is the closest analogue to an IPL franchise setup, with three of its frontline players (Gaikwad, Prithvi Shaw, Musheer Khan) already IPL regulars and two more (Mulani, Kotian) on most teams' wishlists for the red-ball format. The fantasy implication is that West Zone's batting should score quickly, with Gaikwad's white-ball fluency expected to translate into red-ball strike-rotation, and Shaw's early-toss boundary-hitting likely to inflate the powerplay scoring rate.
Jammu & Kashmir wicketkeeper-batter Kanhaiya Wadhawan will lead North Zone, with Ayush Badoni named as vice-captain. The batting group includes Sanat Sangwan, Qamran Iqbal, Yash Dhull, Ayush Doseja and Abdul Samad. Nishant Sindhu, Arjun Sharma and Abid Mushtaq provide the spin options, while Arshdeep Singh, Sunil Kumar, Anshul Kamboj, Yudhvir Singh and Nikhil Kashyap make up the seam department. North Zone face West Zone in the second quarter-final on August 23 at CoE 1.
Wadhawan's captaincy marks the first time a Jammu & Kashmir wicketkeeper has led a North Zone Duleep Trophy side, and the squad is built around seam-bowling depth rather than batting certainty. Arshdeep Singh's left-arm angle and Kamboj's ability to bowl long spells make North Zone a tough side to score against in the fourth innings. For fantasy, this is the squad most likely to produce bowler-heavy points rather than batting-heavy scores.
The selectors are yet to name the skipper for North East Zone, whose squad includes Techi Neri, Robin Limboo, Bishworjit Singh Konthoujam, Imliwati Lemtur, Kishan Lyndoh, Joseph Lal Thankhuma, Arpit Subhas, Priyojit K, Ronald Meitei, Akash Kumar Choudhary, Vino G. Zhimomi, Lalrempuia, Jonathan Rongsen, Jotin Singh Pheiroijam and Ashish Thapa. The side will face East Zone in the first quarter-final on August 23 at CoE 2, with the winner advancing to face Central Zone in the semi-final.
| Fixture | Date | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| QF: East Zone vs North East Zone | August 23 – 26 | CoE 2, Bengaluru |
| QF: North Zone vs West Zone | August 23 – 26 | CoE 1, Bengaluru |
| SF: Central Zone vs TBA | August 30 – September 2 | CoE 1, Bengaluru |
| SF: South Zone vs TBA | August 30 – September 2 | CoE 2, Bengaluru |
| Final | September 6 – 10 | CoE 1, Bengaluru |
| Zone | Squad |
|---|---|
| South Zone | Tilak Varma (c), Ricky Bhui (vc), Abhinav Tejrana, Shaik Rasheed, K Himateja, R Smaran, N Jagadeesan (wk), Karun Nair, T Thyagarajan, Shreyas Gopal, K Sai Teja, T Vijay, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Aman Khan, MD Nidheesh |
| North Zone | Kanhaiya Wadhawan (c) (wk), Ayush Badoni (vc), Sanat Sangwan, Qamran Iqbal, Yash Dhull, Ayush Doseja, Abdul Samad, Nishant Sindhu, Arjun Sharma, Abid Mushtaq, Arshdeep Singh, Sunil Kumar, Anshul Kamboj, Yudhvir Singh, Nikhil Kashyap |
| East Zone | Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sudip Gharami, Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Suraj Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan (c), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (vc), Virat Singh, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Shikhar Mohan, Subranshu Senapati, Abhijit Sarkar, Anukul Roy, Denish Das |
| West Zone | Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Shams Mulani (vc), Shardul Thakur, Sarfaraz Khan, Musheer Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Tanush Kotian, Harvik Desai (wk), Jaymeet Patel, Urvil Patel (wk), Siddharth Desai, Atit Sheth, Prithvi Shaw, Shivalik Sharma, Mukesh Choudhary |
| Central Zone | Rajat Patidar (c), Aryan Juyal (wk), Saransh Jain, Aman Mokhade, Kunal Chandela, Zeeshan Ansari, Aryan Pandey, Arshad Khan, Rinku Singh (vc), Ayush Pandey, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Kunal Singh Rathod (wk), Yash Thakur, Nachiket Bhute |
| North East Zone | Techi Neri, Robin Limboo, Bishworjit Singh Konthoujam, Imliwati Lemtur, Kishan Lyndoh, Joseph Lal Thankhuma, Arpit Subhas (wk), Priyojit K, Ronald Meitei, Akash Kumar Choudhary, Vino G. Zhimomi, Lalrempuia, Jonathan Rongsen, Jotin Singh Pheiroijam, Ashish Thapa. Captain yet to be named. |
There are three fantasy angles to track from here. First, the captaincy race: every IPL franchise will be watching how its leader performs in red-ball conditions, because the India selection committee's Test squad announcement typically follows the Duleep Trophy final. Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Patidar and Gaikwad are all candidates for India Test call-ups, and a strong showing could shift the IPL retention math. Second, the vice-captain gambit: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's appointment over Abhimanyu Easwaran is the clearest signal yet that the selectors view Sooryavanshi as a long-term India white-ball asset, which in turn makes him an IPL 2027 auction watchlist pick for franchises seeking a teenage top-order wildcard.
Third, the seam-bowling map. Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Shardul Thakur, Mukesh Choudhary, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande and Anshul Kamboj are all on IPL books, and the Duleep Trophy is the first chance for several of them to confirm they have recovered from injury or rebuilt red-ball match fitness. For IPL 2026 fantasy users, the most useful information out of Bengaluru will not be the captaincy list, but the bowling workload data from the quarter-finals onward.
For more on how the IPL 2026 season is shaping up, browse the SuperStrikers11 IPL 2026 desk for squad guides, captaincy frameworks and the latest tournament structure analysis.
The Duleep Trophy 2026 starts on August 23 with the two quarter-finals at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, runs through semi-finals between August 30 and September 2, and concludes with the final from September 6 to 10 at CoE 1, Bengaluru.
Tilak Varma captains South Zone with Ricky Bhui as deputy, Ishan Kishan captains East Zone with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi as vice-captain, Rajat Patidar leads defending champion Central Zone with Rinku Singh as deputy, Ruturaj Gaikwad captains West Zone with Shams Mulani as deputy, and Kanhaiya Wadhawan leads North Zone. The North East Zone captain is still to be named.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is 15 years old and has played only eight first-class matches for Bihar. Wisden reported that selectors chose him over Abhimanyu Easwaran, who has consistently performed on the domestic circuit, which makes this one of the youngest vice-captain appointments in recent Duleep Trophy history.
All five confirmed captains are current IPL franchise players: Tilak Varma (Mumbai Indians), Ishan Kishan (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Rajat Patidar (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), Ruturaj Gaikwad (Chennai Super Kings captain), and Kanhaiya Wadhawan (Jammu and Kashmir wicketkeeper-batter in the IPL auction pool).
The full 15-player squads for South Zone, North Zone, East Zone, West Zone, Central Zone and North East Zone are listed above, with the Bengaluru fixtures, venues and dates, and the IPL franchise context for every named captain and vice-captain.
Use confirmed roles, the playing XI and pitch conditions before locking your IPL 2026 selections.
