Ahead of the upcoming domestic cricket season, the East Zone have been handed a massive setback. With the domestic cricket calendar kickstarting with the Duleep Trophy, which is set to be played from August
28 to September 7 at the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Centre of Exellence, East Zone will be without their skipper and wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan.
On Sunday, August 17, the Odisha Cricket Association shared an update around Ishan Kishan, who has been ruled out of the upcoming Duleep Trophy with an injury. However, details around the injury haven’t been revealed by the OCA, but they took to X to announce his replacement in the squad.
Aashirwad Swain named Ishan Kishan’s replacement; Abhimanyu Easwaran named captain
"Odisha’s wicketkeeper-batter Aashirwad Swain has been selected for the East Zone squad in the Duleep Trophy, replacing Ishan Kishan! He joins Sandeep Pattnaik in the squad, while Swastik Samal has been named as standby," read a statement from Odisha Cricket Association. While the Odisha keeper-batter was initially drafted in the stand-by list, he makes into the 14-member squad with Swastik Samal being added in the stand-by list.
Moreover, Abhimanyu Easwaran, who was initially named the deputy to Ishan Kishan will now be seen leading the side. Furthermore, Kishan is the second player to miss the upcoming edition of Duleep Trophy after Akash Deep, who decided to withdraw from the domestic tournament after grueling Test series against England.
East Zone Squad for 2025-26 Duleep Trophy
Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Sandeep Patnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Riyan Parag, Utkarsh Singh, Manishi, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Aashirwad Swain.
Standbys: Mukhtar Hussain, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Swastik Samal, Sudip Kumar Gharami, Rahul Singh
