Duleep Trophy 2023: Spotlight on skippers Shivam Mavi and Abhimanyu Easwaran as Central takes on East Zone

Shivam Mavi will make his First Class captaincy debut with Central Zone during the season-opening Duleep Trophy 2023–24 quarterfinal against East Zone at the Alur (I) Cricket Ground here on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old Mavi featured in just four First Class matches in the 2022–23 season and has not played any competitive game since the week of his India T20I debut in late January. Mavi, however, did shine with 19 wickets in the limited Ranji Trophy matches he played for Uttar Pradesh last season.

Mavi will find support from his deputy Upendra Yadav, who took over as Railways’ red-ball captain last year. While Yadav is likely to take the wicketkeeping gloves, the Central Zone squad also comprises three other wicketkeepers: Himanshu Mantri, Akshay Wadkar, and Dhruv Jurel.

Mantri could pair up with Vivek Singh up top, while Shubham Sharma, Wadkar, and the high-flying Rinku Singh will firm up the middle-order.

Left-armers Saurabh Kumar, Manav Suthar, and offie Saransh Jain round up the spin department. Avesh Khan and Yash Thakur will be Mavi’s allies in pace.

Meanwhile, the spotlight will be on East Zone skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran, who has slid down the ladder of India’s potential openers in the Test side.

The 27-year-old will aim to continue his purple patch from the 2022–23 season, where he hit four consecutive First Class hundreds for India-A and Bengal before a season-ending 154 in the Irani Cup in March.

Easwaran will lead a familiar pack: six of his 14 East Zone teammates are from Bengal. While the slower bowlers tend to make merry at the venue, East Zone has a solid spin attack on paper.

Veteran Shahbaz Nadeem will lead the charge along with fellow left-armers Shahbaz Ahmed and Anukul Roy. Akash Deep will lead the seam department on his elevation to the zonal team after a fruitful Ranji season, where he emerged as the leading wicket-taker (41) among the pacers.

With evening showers forecast throughout the week, the teams will hope to brace for an impulsive test of smarts in the pleasant weather.

The squads:

East Zone: Abhimanyu Easwaran (Capt.), Santanu Mishra, Sudip Gharami, Riyan Parag, A. Majumdar, Bipin Saurabh, A Porel (wk), K Kushagra (wk), Shahbaz Nadeem (vc), Shahbaz Ahmed, Akash Deep, Anukul Roy, M. Mura Singh, Ishan Porel and Suryakant Pradhan.

Central Zone: Shivam Mavi (Capt.), Vivek Singh, Himanshu Mantri, Kunal Chandela, Shubham Sharma, Amandeep Khare, Rinku Singh, Akshay Wadkar, Upendra Yadav (vc), Dhruv Jurel, Saurabh Kumar, Manav Suthar, Saransh Jain, Avesh Khan and Yash Thakur.