Duleep Trophy: Abhimanyu Easwaran to lead East Zone; Ishan Kishan opts out as per reports

The Duleep Trophy 2023 is all set to begin on June 28. As East Zone announced its squad for the first-class tournament, they have named the 27-year-old Abhimanyu Easwaran as their captain.

Furthermore, Shahbaz Nadeem, who plays Ranji Trophy for Jharkhand has been named vice-captain of the side. Star wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan has reportedly opted out of selection which led to Easwaran being named as the skipper. It is also reported that the East Zone selectors were baffled by Kishan opting out of selection for the tournament with India’s Test series against the West Indies approaching.

Furthermore, following Kishan's decision to opt-out, the selectors switched their attention towards veteran wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, however, the 38-year-old reportedly mentioned that the Duleep Trophy was for India hopefuls and it would not make sense for him to take the place of any youngster. 

"Since he was in the India squad for the WTC final and KS Bharat, the man who kept wickets, is playing for South Zone, we asked Zonal Selection Committee convenor Debasish Chakraborty to tell us if we could select Kishan," an East Zone selection committee member was quoted as saying by News18. 

"As he is a senior India regular in the white ball, he would have gotten the captaincy. Chakraborty got in touch with Ishan over the phone and came back and told us that he was not interested in playing in the Duleep Trophy. We were not told if he had an injury or not. Just that he doesn’t want to play," he added.

Furthermore, 21-year-old Riyan Parag has also been selected in the East Zone squad for the Duleep Trophy. Parag had an underwhelming season with Rajasthan Royals in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023; however, with his selection, he would hope that he can improve upon his performances. 

East Zone Squad:

Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Santanu Mishra, Sudip Gharami, Riyan Parag, A. Majumdar, Bipin Saurabh, Abhishek Porel (wk), K Kushagra (wk), Shahbaz Nadeem (vc), Shahbaz Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Anukul Roy, M Mura Singh, Ishan Porel.