The South Zone selection committee didn’t pick any of the Sri Lanka-bound Test players, including KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, B Sai Sudharsan and Prasidh Krishna. These four players will finish their Test engagements on August 27, and South play their first game, the semi-final, from August 30.
N Jagadeesan is likely to be the first-choice wicketkeeper, with Shaikh Rasheed as the reserve.
The selectors have opted for a largely inexperienced pace attack; Kerala’s MD Nidheesh is the most experienced with 51 first-class matches. The other two are Vidwath Kaverappa and K Sai Teja. Shreyas Gopal (legspinner), Tanay Thyagarajan (left-arm fingerspinner) and T Vijay (offspinner) will lead the spin attack.
The selectors rewarded Goa’s Abhinav Tejrana with a maiden call-up following an excellent debut season. Tejrana was the fifth-highest run scorer in the Ranji Trophy, with 788 runs in 12 innings at an average of 71.43, including four centuries. Allrounder Aman Khan is the lone representative from Puducherry.
South Zone finished runners-up last season to Central Zone and have been given a bye in the first round. They will meet the winner of the match between North Zone and West Zone in the semi-final. All the matches will be played at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
South Zone squad for Duleep Trophy
Tilak Varma (captain), Ricky Bhui (vice-capt), Abhinav Tejrana, Shaik Rasheed, K Himateja, R Smaran, N Jagadeesan, Karun Nair, T Thyagarajan, Shreyas Gopal, K Sai Teja, T Vijay, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Aman Khan, MD Nidheesh
