East Zone’s preparations for the upcoming Duleep Trophy have suffered another setback. After losing pacer Akash Deep earlier this month, the side has now been dealt a bigger blow with captain Ishan Kishan ruled out of the six-team competition, starting August 28 in Bengaluru. The 27-year-old wicketkeeper-batter was expected to be one of the central figures in the tournament, especially with the Asia Cup around the corner, but will miss out owing to fitness concerns.
Ishan Kishan’s replacement named
Kishan, who last turned out for Nottinghamshire in the County Championship in June, had been named East Zone skipper only a fortnight ago. Kishan eyed redemption via the Duleep Trophy as he even checked in at the BCCI CoE for fitness assessment. The Odisha Cricket Association confirmed that 20-year-old Aashirwad Swain has been drafted in as his replacement. Swain, who has impressed in age-group cricket, will join fellow Odia batter Sandeep Pattnaik in the squad, while Swastik Samal has been added as a standby.
With Kishan sidelined, Bengal’s Abhimanyu Easwaran will now take charge of the team. It was even surprising at first when Kishan was named captain of the East Zone despite Easwaran’s presence. After all, he is currently in the Indian Test team and is the India A leader as well.
The 29-year-old has been the backbone of Bengal’s batting for nearly a decade, amassing over 7,800 runs in 103 first-class matches. Unfortunately for Easwaran, his desire for India debut continues. Ever since receiving his maiden Test call-up, almost 15 players have made their Test debuts for India, including Ishan Kishan. However, Easwaran has remained on the bench even during the recent 2-2 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
As for Kishan, he has been in and out of India’s squads over the past year, and the Duleep Trophy was seen as a crucial opportunity to assert his dominance, that too, as a captain. Having already missed the final Test against England earlier this season due to an untimely scooter accident, this latest injury setback will definitely haunt him.
East Zone squad for Duleep Trophy
Abhimanyu Easwaran, 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
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