Dhruv Jurel misses Duleep Trophy quarter-final

Central Zone captain Dhruv Jurel and East Zone skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran are not part of the Duleep Trophy quarterfinals, which began in Bengaluru on Thursday. As per reports, Jurel has a groin niggle

while Easwaran caught flu on the morning of the contest.

Easwaran’s absence i a significant setback for East Zone, who are facing a strong North Zone team at the BCCI Centre of Excellence. East Zone is already without pacer Akash Deep and wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan.

With Easwaran unavailable, Assam allrounder Riyan Parag was promoted to captain East Zone.

As per news agency PTI, Jurel, who is also a standby in India’s squad for the upcoming Asia Cup, suffered a groin niggle on the eve of the match and was advised to skip it. The Test specialist had reported for the game.

“He is also in the standbys of the Asia Cup squad, and the selectors don’t want to take any risk. Right after the Asia Cup, India will be playing four Test matches at home and with uncertainty over (Rishabh) Pant’s injury, Jurel has been asked not to take any risk,” timesofindia.com quoted a BCCI source as saying.

Rajat Patidar, who led Royal Challengers Bengaluru to the IPL title earlier this year, is leading Central Zone in their quarterfinals against NorthEast Zone. Patidar was the vice-captain of the team.

It is noteworthy that North Zone is without skipper Shubman Gill, who was originally named to lead the side, as he failed to recover from a fever in time.

Haryana’s Ankit Kumar, who was originally the vice-captain, is leading North Zone, while Shubham Goel has been added as a replacement for Gill.