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Tilak Varma To Captain In Duleep Trophy; MI's IPL 2025 Retainee Rewarded By South Zone

Rajgeeta Yadav

Tilak Varma [Source: @hantscricket/X.com]Tilak Varma [Source: @hantscricket/X.com]

India young batting star Tilak Varma has been chosen as the captain of the South Zone team for the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2025. This decision was made during the South Zone selection meeting held at Siechem Stadium in Pondicherry on Saturday.

Even though Tilak did not play in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 season for Hyderabad because of his international duties, he was still picked to lead the side. 

The Duleep Trophy 2025 will be the first major tournament of India’s new domestic cricket season. As confirmed by the BCCI, the tournament will go back to the zonal format, where teams are split into six zones - North, South, East, West, Central, and North East.

Meanwhile, Tilak has been in great form recently. He has been playing for Hampshire in England’s County cricket and made an instant impact by scoring a century on debut against Essex. After that, he scored 56, 47, and another century in his next few games, proving his consistency.

Kerala’s Mohammad Azharuddeen Named Vice-Captain

In addition, Kerala’s Mohammad Azharuddeen has been named vice-captain of the South Zone team. He had an excellent domestic season and helped Kerala reach the Ranji Trophy final for the first time. Azharuddeen also scored a career-best 177 in the semi-final, which impressed the selectors.

Moreover, three other players from Kerala, Salman Nizar, Basil NP, and Nidheesh MD, have also been selected for the squad. Young pacer Eden Apple Tom has been included as one of the reserves.

Furthermore, Tamil Nadu captain Sai Kishore, who also plays for Gujarat Titans in the IPL, is part of the team. From Karnataka, Vijay Kumar Vyshak is the only player picked.

South Zone Squad For Duleep Trophy 2025:

Tilak Varma (C) (Hyderabad), Mohammed Azharuddeen (vice-captain) (Kerala), Tanmay Agarwal (Hyderabad), Devdutt Padikkal (Karnataka), Mohit Kale (Pondicherry), Salman Nizar (Kerala), Narayan Jagadeesan (Tamil Nadu), Tripurana Vijay (Andhra), R Sai Kishore (Tamil Nadu), Tanay Thyagarajan (Hyderabad), Vijaykumar Vyshak (Karnataka), Nidheesh MD (Kerala), Ricky Bhui (Andhra), Basil NP (Kerala), Gurjapneet Singh (Tamil Nadu), Snehal Kauthankar (Goa)

Standby players: Mohit Redkar (Goa), R Smaran (Karnataka), Ankit Sharma (Pondicherry), Edhen Apple Tom (Kerala), Andre Siddarth (Tamil Nadu), and Shaikh Rasheed (Andhra)