Duleep Trophy 2025: Ishan Kishan ruled out, Abhimanyu Easwaran to lead East Zone

Published - 18 Aug 2025, 09:49 IST | Updated - 18 Aug 2025, 09:52 IST

East Zone have endured yet another setback ahead of the upcoming Duleep Trophy, as their skipper Ishan Kishan has been ruled out of the six-team competition. This comes after they already lost the services of pacer Akash Deep. With Kishan unavailable, Abhimanyu Easwaran has been handed the captaincy.

The wicketkeeper-batter was expected to be one of the marquee players in the tournament. However, with the Asia Cup 2025 also around the corner, fitness concerns have forced him out. Kishan, who last featured for Nottinghamshire in the County Championship in June, had only been named skipper a fortnight ago.

He was eyeing redemption through the Duleep Trophy, even checking in at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) for a fitness assessment. As his replacement, 20-year-old Aashirwad Swain has been drafted into the squad. Swain, who has impressed in age-group cricket, will join his fellow Odia batter Sandeep Pattnaik, while Swastik Samal has been added as a standby.

The leadership now rests with Bengal batter Easwaran, who was a surprising omission from the captaincy initially despite his experience. Easwaran, who was recently a part of India’s Test squad against England and also skipper of the India A side, has been the backbone of Bengal’s batting for nearly a decade. He has scored over 7800 runs in 103 first-class matches.

Despite his consistency, Easwaran is still awaiting his India debut. Since his maiden national call-up, nearly 15 players have made their Test debuts for India, including Kishan. Easwaran most recently remained on the bench during the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, which ended in a 2-2 draw.

For Kishan, this is another frustrating setback. In the past year, he has been in and out of India’s squads, with the Duleep Trophy seen as a vital opportunity to re-establish himself. Earlier this year, he missed the final Test against England due to an untimely scooter accident, and this fresh injury has again stalled his comeback plans.

Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Aasirwad Swain (WK), Sandeep Patnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Riyan Parag, Utkarsh Singh, Manishi, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Mukhtar Hussain and Mohammed Shami

Standbys: Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Swastik Samal, Sudip Kumar Gharami and Rahul Singh