Duleep Trophy 2026-27: Captains, squads, full schedule, format, dates & key details | Cricket News

The 2026-27 Indian domestic cricket season is set to kick off with the prestigious Duleep Trophy beginning on August 23, 2026. As the zonal red-ball tournament on the domestic calendar, the Duleep Trophy sets the stage for first-class specialists and national team hopefuls alike.

Format: Multi-day First-Class cricket.

Structure: Traditional Zonal System featuring 6 teams: Central Zone, South Zone, East Zone, West Zone, North Zone, and North East Zone.

• Central Zone (defending champions) and South Zone (runners-up) have earned a direct bye into the semi-finals.
• The remaining four teams (East Zone, West Zone, North Zone, and North East Zone) will clash in the quarter-finals.
• Quarter-final winners advance to face the seeded teams in the semi-finals.  
• Semi-final winners contest a five-day final.

Matches in the quarter-finals and semi-finals are scheduled over four days, with the final over five days. All games start at 9:30 AM IST. 

Check Full Schedule

Announced Squads

Central Zone (Defending Champions)

Captain: Rajat Patidar | Vice-Captain: Rinku Singh

Squad: Rajat Patidar (c), Rinku Singh (vc), Aryan Juyal (wk), Kunal Singh Rathod (wk), Saransh Jain, Aman Mokhade, Kunal Chandela, Zeeshan Ansari, Aryan Pandey, Arshad Khan, Ayush Pandey, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Yash Thakur, Nachiket Bhute.

Captain: Tilak Varma | Vice-Captain: Ricky Bhui

Squad: Tilak Varma (c), Ricky Bhui (vc), Abhinav Tejrana, Shaik Rasheed, K. Himateja, R. Smaran, N. Jagadeesan, Karun Nair, Tanay Thyagarajan, Shreyas Gopal, K. Sai Teja, Tripurana Vijay, Vidwath Kaverappa, Aman Khan, M.D. Nideesh.  

East Zone  

Captain: Ishan Kishan | Vice-Captain: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

Squad: Ishan Kishan (c), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (vc), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sudip Gharami, Shahbaz Ahmed, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Shikhar Mohan, Anukul Roy, Virat Singh, Subhranshu Senapati, Denish Das, Abhijit Sarkar.

Captain: Ruturaj Gaikwad | Vice-Captain: Shams Mulani

Squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Shams Mulani (vc), Prithvi Shaw, Harvik Desai (wk), Shivalik Sharma, Musheer Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Jaymeet Patel, Urvil Patel (wk), Siddharth Desai, Tanush Kotian, Shardul Thakur, Atit Seth, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Chaudhary.  

Captain: Kanhaiya Wadhawan | Vice-Captain: Ayush Badoni

Squad: Kanhaiya Wadhawan (c), Ayush Badoni (vc), Sanat Sangwan, Qamran Iqbal, Yash Dhull, Ayush Doseja, Abdul Samad, Nishant Sindhu, Arjun Sharma, Abid Mushtaq, Arshdeep Singh, Sunil Kumar, Anshul Kamboj, Yudhvir Singh, Nikhil Kashyap.

Squad: Techi Neri, Robin Limboo, Bishworjit Singh Konthoujam, Imliwati Lemtur, Kishan Lyndoh, Joseph Lal Thankhuma, Arpit Subhas, Priyojit K, Ronald Meitei, Akash Kumar Choudhary, Vino G. Zhimomi, Lalrempuia, Jonathan Rongsen (c), Jotin Singh Pheiroijam, Ashish Thapa.

Star power: The tournament features several India internationals and recent debutants, including Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Harsh Dubey, Yash Thakur and Anshul Kamboj. Young talent Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has been named East Zone vice-captain.  

J&K representation: North Zone includes six players from reigning Ranji Trophy champions Jammu & Kashmir. The Duleep Trophy remains a vital platform for players to push for national selection in the longer format.

With a mix of established stars and emerging talent across the zones, the 2026-27 edition promises competitive red-ball cricket as India’s domestic season gets underway.