Gaikwad to lead West Zone in 2026-27 domestic season-opening Duleep Trophy
Shams Mulani to be the team's vice-captain, while Prithvi Shaw and Musheer Khan have both been included in the squad
Ruturaj Gaikwad has been named West Zone captain for the 2026-27 season-opening Duleep Trophy starting August 23, with left-arm spin-bowling allrounder Shams Mulani named his deputy.
The squad features as many as six Mumbai players, including allrounder Shardul Thakur and batter Sarfaraz Khan. There's also place for former Mumbai batter Prithvi Shaw, who struck 537 runs in 11 innings at 48.84 in his first Ranji Trophy season (2025-26) with Maharashtra. This included a 156-ball 222 against Chandigarh, the third-fastest century in Ranji history.
Ayush Mhatre, the 19-year-old Mumbai batter, wasn't considered as he continued his recovery from hamstring and wrist injuries, which ruled him out of Chennai Super Kings' IPL 2026 campaign after six appearances. Mhatre is undergoing rehab at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
Cricinfo understands that Gaikwad, the Maharashtra batter, will bat in the middle order, because of the role he sees himself in when it comes to red-ball cricket. Gaikwad, 29, was recently part of the India A squad that won the one-day tri-series and the four-day series in Sri Lanka.
Saurashtra's Harvik Desai is likely to be the first-choice wicketkeeper in the squad, with Gujarat's Urvil Patel as his back-up. The selectors have also rewarded Mumbai's Musheer Khan, who scored 446 runs and picked up 16 wickets in the 2025-26 Ranji season, with a call-up.
The spin department will be led by the Mumbai duo of Mulani and Tanush Kotian, with Gujarat's Siddharth Desai, who picked up 45 wickets at an average of 18.42 in the last Ranji season, as the third option.
The six-team competition will be played from August 23 to September 10 at the Centre of Excellence premises. West Zone lost to eventual champions Central Zone in the semi-final of the 2025-26 Duleep Trophy.
West Zone squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Shams Mulani (vice-captain), Shardul Thakur, Sarfaraz Khan, Musheer Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Tanush Kotian, Harvik Desai (wk), Jaymeet Patel, Urvil Patel, Siddharth Desai, Atit Sheth, Prithvi Shaw, Shivalik Sharma and Mukesh Choudhary