India's Test skipper Shubman Gill is unlikely to participate in the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2025 season, starting on August 28. The 25-year-old, who was also expected to lead the North Zone team, is reportedly keeping unwell. Notably, the North Zone selection committee, which initially named him in the squad, has been anticipating the batter's possible absence from the inter-zonal tournament.
However, as of Friday, August 22, they have not received any official confirmation about the India Test skipper's participation from the North Zone associations. According to the Cricbuzz report, the physios recently monitored him and reportedly also submitted a health status report to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) a day ago. At present, the 25-year-old is in his hometown, Chandigarh, unwinding ahead of India's busy all-format season.
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Even the officials within the BCCI selection committee - national & zonal - did not confirm any development about Shubman Gill's availability, but sources close to the right-hand batter confirmed the speculation.
Shubman Gill's non-presence a big jolt for North Zone
For the unversed, Gill was set to be one of the main batters, & also the leader of the side in the Duleep Trophy for North Zone. He was also coming into the zonal tournament with a rich vein of form, as he topped the run charts in the five-match Test series against England, scoring 754 runs. However, if he would have participated also in the Duleep Trophy, he would not have played the entire season of the Duleep Trophy season, as he was set to leave for the Asia Cup, starting on September 09. The Zonal tournament runs from August 28 to September 15.
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At best, Gill would have only been available till North Zone's opening game. They will begin their campaign against the East Zone in Bengaluru. Notably, the North Zone were prepared to name Gill's replacement as they had an intuition of his unavailability for the Duleep Trophy. Shubham Rohilla was named as a replacement for the India skipper. Ankit Kumar was initially named as the deputy to Gill. However, with the latter's unavailability, the former is set to lead the North Zone in the Zonal tournament.
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Besides Gill, Arshdeep Singh & Harshit Rana, both included in the Asia Cup squad, will leave the North Zone after playing the first game. Gurnoor Brar and Anuj Thakral were named as the replacement players respectively for the two Indian bowlers, should North Zone feature beyond the first game, which is a knockout game.
