All posts by h716a5.icu

Where will this crucial contest be won and lost?

Sidharth Monga20-May-20252:58

Cricinformed: Bumrah, the gold standard for a T20 bowler

Win the toss by any meansThe toss seems to be worth more at Wankhede Stadium than other venues. The true pitch, the small boundaries and the dew are a nightmare for teams batting first. Among the active IPL venues, Wankhede offers chasing sides the best win-loss ratio in night games over the last five years: 1.8. This year only Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have defended successfully in a night game at Wankhede, scoring 221 and then just scraping home by 12 runs.What do you do if you lose the toss?MI are much more likely to overcome the toss disadvantage. They have the batting to keep hitting through the 20 overs and post a par-plus total. However, they haven’t yet been able to display how it can be done as they haven’t batted first and won a night game at Wankhede this year.They came close the one time they lost the toss, but that was on a seaming pitch. If they play on the same surface as they did against Gujarat Titans (GT), scoring just 155 and then taking the match to the last ball amid rain breaks, MI will back themselves because of a stronger pace attack. Especially given how DC are without Mitchell Starc, they might even want to play on the same track.DC will have a taller order if they have to bat first. They are coming off a match where KL Rahul scored a hundred in a total of 199, which turned out to be inadequate. On the usual flat Mumbai track, DC will have to bat out of their skins to post a challenging total.4:34

Are DC equipped to succeed without Starc?

Promote StubbsIt is not a question of just intent. DC made 56 boundary attempts as against GT’s 44 when they failed to defend 199. The conditions play a big role. The ball stops just a little when the pitch is fresh, but under lights it comes onto the bat beautifully. There are no match-ups or weak links for DC to exploit.The one tweak they could make is promote Tristan Stubbs to No. 3 if the first wicket doesn’t fall early. You can still have Abhishek Porel bat at 3 if the opportunity comes with a lot of powerplay deliveries left, but Stubbs has the highest ceiling among the DC batters after the openers. If DC find themselves batting first, it makes sense to give Stubbs as many deliveries as possible because what looks like a par score is never enough at Wankhede.The Surya-Tilak combinationDC are a rare team whose spinners have done well against Suryakumar Yadav. Axar Patel has gone at under a run a ball, and Kuldeep Yadav got him out the last time he came up against Suryakumar. However, Tilak Varma more than makes up for it with a strike rate of 178 against both of the spinners. We might just see MI promote Tilak if they get off to a good start or Axar bringing himself on should Surya and Rohit Sharma bat together. That is one pairing MI should look to avoid: both go at under a run a ball against Axar and aren’t great against Kuldeep either. Considering spin is DC’s strength, don’t bet against some flexibility in the order should Ryan Rickleton be the first batter dismissed.Target Deepak ChaharMI love to bowl a lot of Deepak Chahar in the powerplay so that they have Boult and Jasprit Bumrah for the death overs. Chahar has never got Rahul out. He has bowled just 11 balls to Faf du Plessis but has gone for 22 runs for no wicket. The best scenario for DC is to attack Chahar, force MI to take him off and make him come back late or make Hardik Pandya bowl those overs.

Gudakesh Motie, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford and Romario Shepherd have been rested for the Nepal series, while Shimron Hetmyer had made himself unavailable

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Sep-2025The West Indies team management is looking to expand the bowlers’ pool ahead of the T20 World Cup early next year in India and Sri Lanka.Their next T20I assignment is against Nepal at the end of this month for which the selectors have picked five uncapped players, including legspinner Zishan Motara, left-arm quick Ramon Simmonds and legspin-bowling allrounder Navin Bidaisee, apart from batters Ackeem Auguste and Karima Gore, who played international cricket for USA until 2021 but is yet to get his West Indies cap.They have also picked a support staff heavily stacked with former bowlers to accompany the 15-man squad to Sharjah, with Rayon Griffith as the head coach, Ottis Gibson as fast-bowling consultant, and Nikita Miller and Jerome Taylor as assistant coaches.Related

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Five uncapped players in Akeal Hosein-led WI T20I squad against Nepal

“The tour of Nepal is quite strategic for us,” CWI director of cricket Miles Bascombe said in a press meet. “We have recognised that probably over the last few years, our bowling has been a little bit of the Achilles’ heel in our white-ball team. So we have tried to bolster the support for the bowling group.”After touring the UAE, West Indies will tour Bangladesh for six white-ball matches in October and then fly to New Zealand for five T20Is and three ODIs.Full-time head coach Daren Sammy explained that some of the first-choice players like Gudakesh Motie, the second-highest wicket-taker in the ongoing CPL, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford and Romario Shepherd had been rested for the games in Nepal to manage their workloads. Except Shimron Hetmyer, who blew hot and blew cold this CPL and was unavailable for the tour.Ottis Gibson’s presence raises the profile of the West Indies support staff•Getty Images”If you look at the workload of these guys, Rovman for sure, he has been battling a wrist injury that prevented him from playing in the Pakistan series,” Sammy said. “I mean, he pushed it through this CPL. He requested a time off for him to further look at it. Motie and Shepherd, because of their workload over the last few months, we gave them a time off for that. Sherfane was also [rested] because of his workload.”Hetmyer also requested that he was unavailable for that Nepal trip. So again, like I said, it’s not always a bed of roses. Some things we don’t see, but it’s always a challenge. I’ve said that when I call somebody and tell them, ‘you’ve been selected for some of the series’, and I have to ask to everyone, do you accept the selection to play for West Indies? It’s something that I must do because we don’t own the players. We could only select from what’s available to us. Hettie has been one of our promising, talented players from the Under-19 level. However, the scope of things that now… we could only select and hope guys accept this selection. But he’s always available for selection from our side.”Sammy further said that the selectors and coaches also looked at the performers from the inaugural Breakout League – a new T20 league launched earlier this year to spot talent from across the Caribbean – and the CPL to pick fresh players for the upcoming T20Is.Nathan Edward is a rare left-arm quick in West Indies cricket•ICC/Getty Images”You look at the Breakout [League] and again, I will emphasise the need for continued avenues for us to showcase and unearth talent,” he said. “And the Breakout, maybe some people were against it because it was a T20 format, but if you see this year, the amount of players that came through – Bidaisee was one of them that came through and show his skillset in the Breakout. And, he reminds me of Samuel Badree, who probably could bowl in the powerplay, bowl in the middle, very consistent around that good-length area that brings challenges to batsmen.”And two areas that I’ve spoken about in our bowling department in T20s is the need for a wristspinner. And every single team I could remember in World Cup T20 cricket, has had a left-arm seamer. Just the angle they bring and the difficulty, especially in the back-end of an innings, or whether the ability to swing. I don’t think in the history of West Indies cricket we’ve actually even had two left-arm seamers playing together, much less three. And we also, from the Breakout, you see a young Nathan Edward, who’s been quite quality as well. So again, you put that and you’re hoping that one or two will graduate so quickly that they could be into the senior team.”We gave Jediah [Blades] the exposure, but the way Ramon Simmonds has been bowling in all phases of the game gives me, and I’m pretty sure the selection group, confidence. It makes us excited about the prospects, the promise he’s shown. And then to top that, having somebody like an Ottis Gibson working with them, it’s a win-win situation for us. And hopefully that experience that they will gain or learn from getting the skillsets and the technical aspects of fast bowling or seam bowling from Ottis on that short trip could be a step…”Matthew Forde was still not fit to be considered for selection after he dislocated his shoulder in August, which made him miss the ODIs against Pakistan. CWI is, however, hoping he will be “up and running again” by the Bangladesh series.

Leeds United have built up a six-point gap between themselves and the bottom three in the Premier League after their 2-1 win over West Ham United last week.

Three wins, two draws, and four defeats in nine matches is a respectable return for Daniel Farke’s side after their promotion from the Championship in the 2024/25 campaign.

Prior to this season, the last six teams to have been promoted from the Championship had all been relegated at the first attempt, which illustrates the size of the task ahead of the Whites.

Not only did that mean that Leeds needed to recruit well, which they have with the likes of Noah Okafor and Sean Longstaff, but they also needed some of their stars from last season to make the step up.

The Whites did not recruit an entire new starting line-up and bench to bolster their squad for the Premier League, instead hoping that some of their players could bridge the gap.

One player who is still looking to convince supporters that he is good enough for the top-flight is Brenden Aaronson, who has revived his Leeds career.

How Brenden Aaronson has revived his Leeds career

In the summer of 2022, Jesse Marsch and Victor Orta swooped to sign the American attacking midfielder from RB Salzburg for a fee of £28.5m to bolster the club’s options for the 2022/23 Premier League campaign.

Aaronson scored one goal from 3.86 xG in 36 appearances in the division that season, earning himself the lowest Sofascore rating (6.51) in the entire division, as he made the website’s ‘Worst Team of the Season’.

The USA international opted to go out on loan to Union Berlin for the 2023/24 campaign, rather than remain at Elland Road to fight for promotion from the Championship, at which point the writing appeared to be on the wall for his career at the club.

However, Aaronson returned to the club after his loan spell and Farke revealed that he was “desperate” to help the team, and that he would need to win his place by working hard.

The American was met with some “boos” from supporters, per reporter Graham Smyth, in pre-season, but he then went on to feature in all 46 Championship games as Leeds racked up 100 points, scoring nine goals.

This shows that he proved to Farke, with his performances in training and in matches, that he could be a reliable player for the head coach, and that has carried over to the Premier League.

Appearances

9

xG

1.62

Goals

1

Key passes

9

Big chances created

3

xA

1.27

Assists

0

Duel success rate

52%

As you can see in the table above, Aaronson has not set the Premier League alight with his performances, with one goal in nine games, but he has been a solid performer and has been unfortunate not to register any assists.

Overall, it is fair to say that the 25-year-old has revived his Leeds career, after it looked all-but-finished when he joined Union Berlin on loan, thanks to his hard work and performances on the pitch.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

Aaronson, though, was not the first member of the current first-team squad who revived his career after being sent out on loan by the club. Dan James was the original Brenden Aaronson.

Why Dan James was the original Brenden Aaronson

A year before the American was signed by the Whites, Marcelo Bielsa and Orta swooped to sign James from Manchester United for a fee of £25m to bolster the team’s options out wide.

The Wales international scored four goals and provided four assists in 34 matches in the Premier League in his first season at Elland Road, per Sofascore, but ended the campaign with a new manager in Jesse Marsch.

Despite starting three of the first five league games at the start of the 2022/23 campaign, James was then sent out on loan to Fulham in the summer of 2022, and claimed that he made the move because he “wanted to play games”.

After that move was confirmed, journalist Phil Hay almost wrote off the winger’s chances of continuing his career at Leeds in the future. He wrote: “I don’t think I see Dan James coming back, or it feels like a long shot. James is 24. He’s not especially young and Leeds have essentially said to him that they can do without him this season.”

You can see where Phil Hay was coming from. Leeds were willing to let a player they signed for £25m a year earlier join another Premier League team on loan.

However, the Whites were relegated from the Premier League that season and Fulham did not opt to sign James permanently, which led to him emerging as a star under Farke in the Championship.

The Wales international scored 13 goals and provided seven assists in 40 appearances in the second tier in the 2023/24 campaign, per Sofascore, which shows that his performances paid back the faith that the German head coach showed in him.

Appearances

40

36

xG

10.0

10.46

Goals

13

12

Conversion rate

16%

12%

Big chances created

13

16

Key passes per game

1.4

1.3

Assists

7

9

As you can see in the table above, James delivered consistent quality at the top end of the pitch in his two seasons in the Championship under Farke, with 25 goals and 29 ‘big chances’ created.

The winger claimed last season that he wants to be “ruthless” and has a “ruthless” mentality, which is evidenced by his impressive goal return, as he outperformed his xG in both of those seasons.

James has yet to score a goal in the Premier League so far this season, but he has started three of his six appearances and is a key member of the squad.

His revival of his Leeds career, which looked on the ropes after his move to Fulham in 2022, pathed the way for Aaronson to follow in his footsteps after being in a similar position a year after James’ remergence at Elland Road.

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James was the original Aaronson and now both players are brilliant examples for the club to show future players that there is always a chance to revive their careers, if they are willing to put the hard yards in to be reliable on the pitch.

Sweden has a proud modern history of producing elite strikers, from Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, to Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres. If the hype is to be believed, then 16-year-old Kevin Filling is the latest sensation off that conveyor belt of talent, and the AIK prospect is already being linked with a transfer to one of the Premier League's big hitters.

Filling's senior career is truly still only in its infancy, but following his eye-catching debut in the summer, the teenager is already in the headlines – finding himself linked with English giants Manchester United, among others.

INEOS have already demonstrated their ruthlessness in pursuit of the best young talent around, snaring another Scandinavian wonderkid in Chido Obi from Arsenal as well as Malian midfielder Sekou Kone since taking control of football operations at Old Trafford in late 2023. Whether another deal for a prodigious teenager is on the cards remains to be seen, with some other big names supposedly in the running while United's name is often used in the press for agents to gain leverage. What's clear, though, is that Swedish football has another huge talent on its hands…

Where it all began

Eligible to represent both Sweden and Senegal through his parents, Filling was born in the Swedish city of Vasteras – about 100 kilometres west of capital Stockholm – in November 2008. His football journey began at Vasteras-based IK Franke, but aged 11 he stepped up to bigger local club Vasteras SK, who ply their trade in the second tier. Interestingly, that is also where ex-United defender Victor Lindelof came through the ranks.

It was there that Filling caught the attention of Stockholm's biggest club, AIK, and he joined their academy ahead of the 2023 season at 14. He made swift progress through the age grades, earning game time with the Under-16s and U17s, ultimately netting 10 times in 14 games in 2023. He continued on that upward trajectory the following year, netting 12 times in 26 games as a fully-fledged member of the U17s squad.

He was promoted to the U19s earlier in 2025, and after a brief loan at third-tier partner club Enkopings SK, where he netted once in just three appearances, the 16-year-old was deemed ready for an opportunity by his parent side.

AdvertisementGettyThe big break

In late June 2025, the teenager was given a huge vote of confidence by manager Mikkjal Thomassen as, out of nowhere, he started the Allsvenskan clash against AIK's fierce inter-city rivals IFK Goteborg.

That roll of the dice paid off handsomely, as Filling scored a debut goal to more or less wrap up an eventual 3-0 victory just before the break. Curving his run to stay onside like a seasoned veteran, the youngster latched on to a cute through-ball and found himself in on goal. Keeping his cool, he rolled the ball under the goalkeeper and into the back of the net to spark wild scenes in the stands. Filling was later taken off to a standing ovation from the home section of the Strawberry Arena.

Explaining the big selection call afterwards, Thomassen said: "He (Filling) started because he trained enormously well. He has convinced me." On whether it was a risk, he added: "It's not about daring. I picked the best team today. It was a 16-year-old and a guy who turned 18 last week. We lined up with the strongest team we had.

"We don't take into account what age they are. Kevin brings quality and energy. We are very impressed by him."

How it's going

The very next day, AIK announced that young Filling had signed a his first professional contract to keep him at the club until June 2028.

"It feels completely unreal to sign my first contract with AIK," he effused. "It is a dream come true to be able to step up to the men's team at the age of 16 and now I look forward to continuing my development in order to achieve my next dream in the future, which is to win the Swedish Championship gold medal with AIK."

However, Filling's goal-scoring exploits on his debut unfortunately did not spark an immediate breakthrough, as it emerged that the teenager had suffered a knee injury. That problem would keep him out for two months, and he has since been eased back into action – starting just one out of eight matches since late August, albeit he will still be happy with that level of game time at his age.

He has, though, bagged his second senior goal for AIK in another euphoric moment, rising highest to head home a 96th-minute winner against Stockholm rivals IF Brommapojkarna. "This is the best there is, this is how football should be," he told afterwards with his arms spread wide in a refreshingly enthusiastic interview. "A chance, a goal, it's enough."

At international level, Filling already forms part of Sweden's U18s squad and recently netted a brace against Wales in a friendly. He had already represented the U15s, U16s and U17s, and seems destined to make his senior bow in the not-too-distant future.

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GettyBiggest strengths

Filling's two senior goals are a reflection of the attributes he is already exhibiting at such a young age. The first against Goteborg showed his speed and fearlessness, as he raced clear of the defence but stayed composed when one on one with the goalkeeper and coolly finished; the second demonstrated his aerial ability, as he already stands at an imposing 6'1" despite having many more years to grow. Indeed, he was clearly up for the physical battle on his debut as he engaged in plenty of duels. He has the versatility to play out wide, too, often operating in the left channel and cutting inside.

"Kevin was one of the first academy players I noticed when I came to the club, and since then his development has been very positive," AIK's head of scouting and recruitment Fredrik Wisur Hansen said when Filling's contract was announced. "With his pace, intensity and natural aggression, he is a perfect fit for the football we want to play."

It seems at this early stage that he has the mentality required to make it to the very top, too. Thomassen revealed after the striker's goal against Goteborg: "(He is) Very ambitious. I had to call him in from the last training session. He stood half an hour after we finished training and practiced finishing. He has taken enormous responsibility for his own development and it has gone quickly forward."

There were funky lines drawn on the practice pitches, a serious focus on the sweep shot, and an army of net bowlers on the job to help the batters

Alagappan Muthu30-Oct-2024There was something new at the India nets on Wednesday. They had commandeered four pitches on the square at the Wankhede Stadium. Two for fast bowling. Two for spin bowling. On each of them, two lines had been drawn, extending perpendicularly outward from the batting crease, one from the base of off stump and another from the base of leg stump. They hadn’t been there in Pune.These lines came in particularly handy when Washington Sundar got down to sweep the ball and Ravindra Jadeja appealed for lbw. Washington kept his front foot where it had been when he played the shot and it did seem fairly adjacent to off stump. Rishabh Pant found them beneficial, too. He could identify balls that weren’t in line with the stumps easier and as soon as he saw one, he went on the attack.India are in an almost unprecedented situation – having to prevent a home series whitewash, which has only happened once before, against South Africa in 1999-2000. And it reflected in the work they have been putting in to prepare for the Mumbai Test. It even showed in the work they had put in. The Mumbai Cricket Association, reportedly responding to a request from the team management, had trucked in 35 net bowlers. Many of them looked like school children, teenagers.Related

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An offspinner struck Sarfaraz Khan’s pad while he was defending on the front foot, but according to umpire Gautam Gambhir, the impact could have been outside the line of off stump. Sarfaraz erased that memory with a full-blooded sweep shot in front of square leg against a left-arm spinner next ball. There was a whole bunch of left-arm spinners, actually. Mitchell Santner couldn’t hope for a more heartfelt compliment.A lot of India’s wickets, in Pune in particular, were the result of batters being stuck on the crease. One reason for that might be the level of uncertainty that pitch helped in creating. One ball turned. Another from the same spot went straight on. Others scooted through really low. And with New Zealand making sure they targeted the stumps as often as possible, at times it didn’t feel like there were a lot of options for run-making.”You need to understand when certain balls are turning, certain balls are going straight, it tends to play with your mind,” Abhishek Nayar, India’s assistant coach, said on Wednesday. “So, at that point, it’s really important for a batter to then try and understand how the ball is coming out of the hand, which balls are undercutting [which have an increased chance of skidding through], which balls are overspinning [which are more likely to grip and turn]. I think that’s where you need to focus a little harder [on the bowler’s release].

“We all understand the sport and we all understand we’re going to go out there we’re going to win most times, lose some times. And the losing may be emphasised, but we know it’s part of the team. So, we just go out smiling and give our best all the time”Abhishek Nayar

“That’s the cricketing, technical side of it. But when that tends to happen, a lot of times it’s not so much about the batter who’s playing it, but it’s about the atmosphere outside because sometimes it can be intimidating when you see a ball turning and [another] going straight on. But I think, overall, everyone’s equipped [to deal] with that. You’ve gone through that in your career. When you play domestic cricket, you play on black-soil pitches. You’ve seen that. But, like I said, sometimes the conditions and the position that you are in, the form that you are in, can get the better of you. But the exact science to it is focusing more on the release points. That’s it.”The other thing that batters tend to do on pitches with variable turn is to deny the bowler easy access to good-length areas. Visiting teams turn to the sweep shot to accomplish this. New Zealand, for example, attempted 73 of them in Pune for the cost of three wickets. India typically prefer to combat spin by using their feet, either charging out to the pitch of the ball, or shifting back to exploit the depth of the crease. They played 37 sweeps in Pune, even though they have been encouraged to do so.Rohit Sharma addressed their reluctance to use the shot in the aftermath of the defeat in the second Test. “That’s one thing that we wanted to do as a team, try and play the sweep and reverse sweep because when you do those kinds of things, they have to take one extra man from the front and put it behind, and that allows you to then play straighter and hit those gaps. That is what New Zealand did.”2:06

Manjrekar: Rohit should be wary of using T20 tactics in Tests

Devon Conway and Tom Latham, in particular, are excellent sweepers. They spend a great deal of time practicing that shot, which in turn enables them to see the risk associated with it differently. Even in Pune, where the lack of bounce was a significant deterrent to the shot. There was a Test in Delhi where Australia tried to get out of trouble by sweeping at everything but the ball kept scooting under the bat and crashing into the stumps. So going cross-bat doesn’t always work, but there is perhaps merit in having it as an option.India’s batters focused on that at training in Mumbai, with Yashasvi Jaiswal in particular taking every opportunity to get down on one knee. He went through virtually every variation of the shot, and its offshoot, the scoop, as well. Virat Kohli attempted to reverse Kuldeep Yadav early into his stint and nailed it. He went conventional against Jadeja who spotted it soon enough to shorten the length and get so much kick off these red-soil pitches that it hit the batter on the chest. There’s the other advantage India might gain if their batters are willing to go unconventional. The bowlers will have a better idea of how to deal with it in a match situation (not that they don’t already, of course).Axar Patel saw Washington shaping up for a sweep and looped the ball wider outside off stump. Kuldeep, with his wristspin, was able to get the ball to dip sharply enough that the sweep became problematic. R Ashwin pulled his length back and didn’t provide the room to pull off the sweep. That then forced the batters to adopt other means. Stepping out of the crease was a popular choice. The Wankhede pitch will test both teams. It looked dry. It lacked grass. Ajaz Patel said it is definitely going to turn, just a matter of when. But one saving grace might be that here, the batters will be able to trust the bounce.It’s true, there was some fun and games at the training session too•Getty ImagesIndia began their training on Wednesday with a huge huddle. That’s fairly normal, although this one did seem to go on forever. Then they had a smaller huddle and that seemed to go on forever too. It was around this time that the army of net bowlers descended on the pitches, measuring their run-ups with tape. (Jaiswal, a local boy, seemed to recognise a couple of them, he went and hugged them right at the end.) The team management had given the players a small break but they appear to have made the training sessions in Mumbai mandatory and Wednesday’s had a feeling of leaving no stone unturned, starting with the lines drawn on the pitch to reflect balls with an increased chance of hitting the stumps, to the effort every batter put in to try and avoid being caught on the crease. India haven’t always had to work this hard in a home series but they aren’t letting it get them down.”I think when India lost the [ODI] World Cup in India, that was a low point in Indian cricket for everyone, for the fans, for the players,” Nayar said, “In the same breath, a couple of months later, they were [T20I] world champions. So, I always feel sometimes low point in a cricketer’s, you know, I forgot the word, but through what a cricketer goes. And then coming back is always a great journey. That’s how stories are made. That’s how legacies are created.”So, hopefully, we can be part of creating something as special as that in the future. But the atmosphere is great. Still a lot of jokes and bubbly cricketers in the dressing room. And as you watch, you’ll see our sessions filled with fun and nothing’s changed. We all understand the sport and we all understand we’re going to go out there we’re going to win most times, lose some times. And the losing may be emphasised, but we know it’s part of the team. So, we just go out smiling and give our best all the time.”

Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad are also in the West Zone squad

Edited PTI copy01-Aug-2025India and Mumbai allrounder Shardul Thakur has been named the West Zone captain for the 2025-26 Duleep Trophy, starting on August 28.The 15-member squad includes India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, and middle-order batters Sarfaraz Khan and Shreyas Iyer. A total of seven Mumbai players have been named in the team.Ruturaj Gaikwad is among the 15, while Saurashtra’s Harvik Desai and Maharashtra’s Saurabh Nawale are the wicketkeepers.There was no place for Cheteshwar Pujara or Ajinkya Rahane in the West Zone squad.Earlier in the week, South Zone had also named their squad with Tilak Verma as captain. East Zone have also named their squad, to be led by Ishan Kishan, with Mohammed Shami in the mix.The six-team Duleep Trophy is returning to the zonal format, with squads picked by the zonal selectors, and the tournament will start the 2025-26 domestic season. Last season, the tournament had four teams – India A, B, C and D – that were picked by the national selectors.South Zone were the winners when the Duleep Trophy was held in the zonal format in 2023-24.West Zone squadShardul Thakur (capt, Mumbai), Yashasvi Jaiswal (Mumbai), Aarya Desai (Gujarat), Harvik Desai (wk, Saurashtra), Shreyas Iyer (Mumbai), Sarfaraz Khan (Mumbai), Ruturaj Gaikwad (Maharashtra), Jaymeet Patel (Gujarat), Manan Hingrajia (Gujarat), Saurabh Nawale (wk, Gujarat), Shams Mulani (Mumbai), Tanush Kotian (Mumbai), Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (Saurashtra), Tushar Deshpande (Mumbai), Arzan Nagwaswala (Gujarat)