Rising star Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will be seen in red-ball action for East Zone when the Duleep Trophy 2026-27 season starts at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru on August 23.
The Duleep Trophy 2026 cricket tournament will run from August 23 to September 10 with all matches slated to be held in Bengaluru.
Now in its 63rd edition, the Duleep Trophy is a zonal first-class cricket tournament that will see six teams compete.
The six teams competing for the trophy are North Zone, South Zone, East Zone, West Zone, Central Zone and North East Zone.
The tournament was established in 1961-62 and named after former Indian cricket icon Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji.
It has been a key part of the Indian domestic calendar, giving players an extended red-ball platform in between the Ranji Trophy seasons.
Duleep Trophy matches last four days, except for the final, which is played over five.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will deputise for Ishan Kishan in East Zone’s 15-member squad.
The vice-captaincy underlines Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's meteoric rise over the past year, which has seen the teenager enjoy a brilliant IPL 2026 campaign with Rajasthan Royals, finishing as the competition’s youngest-ever Orange Cap winner.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who was named as a standby player in East Zone’s Duleep Trophy squad last year, made his T20I debut against England last month, becoming the youngest-ever Indian to play international cricket, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar.
In only his second T20I series, Vaibhav emerged as the top scorer overall as India swept Zimbabwe 3-0 away.
The teenager scored two fifties in three matches - his 50 off 19 in the first game making him the youngest player to ever score a half-century in men’s international cricket. He ended the series with a score of 81 off 49 at Harare.
However, red-ball cricket remains largely uncharted territory for Sooryavanshi, who has managed 207 runs in 12 innings at an average of 17.25 across eight first-class matches, with a best of 93.
East Zone will start their Duleep Trophy 2026 campaign against North East Zone in the four-day quarter-finals from July 23.
Meanwhile, two more Royals, Tushar Deshpande and Yudhvir Singh, will square off in the other quarter-final between West Zone and North Zone.
Tushar Deshpande is a part of the West Zone squad, while Yudhvir Singh is in the North Zone team.
The winner of the quarter-final between East Zone and North East Zone will progress to the semi-final, where they will meet Central Zone.
Meanwhile, the winner of the quarter-final between West Zone and North Zone will take on South Zone in the semis. Both semi-finals will begin on August 30.
Central Zone are the defending champions of the Duleep Trophy, while West Zone are the most successful team in the history of the tournament.
Duleep Trophy 2026 squads
North Zone Duleep Trophy squad: Kanhaiya Wadhawan (captain & wicketkeeper), Ayush Badoni (vice-captain), Sanat Sangwan, Yash Dhull, Ayush Doseja, Nishant Sindhu, Anshul Kamboj, Nikhil Kashyap, Qamran Iqbal, Abdul Samad, Abid Mushtaq, Sunil Kumar, Yudhvir Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Arjun Sharma
South Zone Duleep Trophy squad: Tilak Varma (captain), Ricky Bhui (vice-captain & wicketkeeper), SK Rasheed, K Sai Teja, T Vijay, Abhinav Tejrana, K Himateja, T Thyagarajan, R Smaran, Karun Nair, Shreyas Gopal, V Kaverappa, MD Nidheesh, N Jagadeesan (wicketkeeper), Aman Khan
East Zone Duleep Trophy squad: Ishan Kishan (captain & wicketkeeper), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (vice-captain), Denish Das, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sudip Kumar Gharami, Shahbaz Ahmed, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Kumar Kushagra (wicketkeeper), Shikhar Mohan, Anukul Roy, Virat Singh, Subhranshu Senapati, Abhijit Sarkar
West Zone Duleep Trophy squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Shams Mulani (vice-captain), Atit Sheth, Shivalik Sharma, Jaymeet Patel, Urvil Patel (wicketkeeper), Siddharth Desai, Prithvi Shaw, Mukesh Choudhary, Shardul Thakur, Musheer Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Tanush Kotian, Harvik Desai (wicketkeeper), Jay Gohil
Central Zone Duleep Trophy squad: Rajat Patidar (captain), Rinku Singh (vice-captain), Ayush Pandey, Saransh Jain, Aryan Pandey, Arshad Khan, Kunal Singh Rathod (wicketkeeper), Aryan Juyal (wicketkeeper), Zeeshan Ansari, Kunal Chandela, Aman Mokhade, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Yash Thakur, Nachiket Bhute
North East Zone Duleep Trophy squad: Jonathan Rongsen (captain), Bishworjit Singh Konthoujam (vice-captain), Techi Neri, Priyojit K, Ronald Meitei, Jotin Singh Pheiroijam, Kishan Lyngdoh, Arpit Subhas (wicketkeeper), Akash Kumar Choudhary, Joseph Lalthankhuma, Lalrempouia, Imliwati Lemtur, Vino G Zhimomi, Robin Limboo, Ashish Thapa (wicketkeeper)
