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Shardul Thakur will captain West Zone in the Duleep Trophy 2025, aiming to enhance his leadership skills. The tournament runs from Aug 28 to Sep 15, featuring four Indian squads.
India’s Shardul Thakur bowling in England (X)
Ahead of the Duleep Trophy 2025 season, Indian all-rounder Shardul Thakur shared his thoughts on the competition, stating that he would use this opportunity to express himself.
The tournament, scheduled from August 28 to September 15, will kick off the Indian domestic season 2025-26. Last year, the format changed from its traditional zonal structure to featuring four different Indian squads, A, B, C, and D, selected by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Shardul, expressing his views on Revsportz, said, “The Duleep Trophy is one tournament where a player gets rewarded for their performance in previous seasons, or rather, throughout the whole season. The top 15 players from each zone play in the tournament, and the competition again gets tougher and a level up from what you play at the state level, where there is a mix of strong and not-so-strong teams. Duleep Trophy, on the other hand, is a competition among equals, so I would like to use this opportunity to express myself and show my talent.”
Shardul Thakur will captain the West Zone in the 2025 Duleep Trophy season. Although he has never led in the first-class format, he captained Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, a one-day tournament, in December 2024.
Discussing his role as captain, the 33-year-old player said, “I’ve been given a role and I’m leading the West Zone. So, rather than a challenge, it’s more like an experience for me on the personal front, to understand what qualities a leader should possess. I believe I have a few, but using this tournament, I would want to enhance my leadership qualities further. I understand that as a captain, I will have to be available for the players, sit and discuss bowling styles and fielding positions, strategies, etc. Looking forward to what’s going to open up for me in this leadership journey.”
West Zone Duleep Trophy squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Aarya Desai, Manan Hingrajia, Harvik Desai, Saurabh Nawale, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Jaymeet Patel, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Shardul Thakur (c), Tushar Deshpande and Arzan Nagwaswalla.
(With ANI Inputs)
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A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses, features, live scores, results, stats and everything that’s cricket from all over the globe. Follow @cricketnext
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