Duleep Trophy 2026: Batsman Rituraj Gaikwad, who has been out of the Indian team for a long time, has been given a big responsibility. Gaikwad has been made the captain of the West Zone team for Duleep Trophy 2026. At the same time, Prithvi Shaw has also been included in the team. This tournament can open the doors of Team India for both the players. Experienced players like all-rounder Shardul Thakur, Sarfaraz Khan, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian and Tushar Deshpande have also got a chance in the team.

Ruturaj Gaikwad will captain

Duleep Trophy will start from 23rd August. The West Zone team will face North Zone in the quarter-finals of this tournament. Rituraj Gaikwad has been out of Team India for quite some time now. He tried many times to make a place in India’s ODI team. Last year in 2025, Gaikwad got a place in Team India in the home ODI series against South Africa. In the first match, he scored only 8 runs, but in the second ODI match, Rituraj Gaikwad scored a brilliant century. However, after this he did not get a chance to bat in the third ODI match. After this, he was dropped from the team for the series against New Zealand, because he did not find a place in the team. Actually Shubhman Gill and Shreyas Iyer had returned.

Gaikwad is continuously getting out of Team India

After this, Rituraj Gaikwad was not included in the India A squad in the opening matches of the recent tri-series played between Sri Lanka A and Afghanistan A. Riyan Parag was out of the tournament due to injury. Gaikwad was included in the squad in his place. He is not getting a place even in the test. He has not yet made his test debut for Team India. He was included in the Test team for the first time for the West Indies tour in the year 2023, but did not get a chance to debut.

Prithvi Shaw returns to West Zone team

Apart from this, batsman Prithvi Shaw has also returned to the West Zone team. Shaw used to play for Maharashtra before the 2025-26 season. He has had an excellent performance in domestic cricket. Shaw has scored a total of 537 runs while batting in 11 innings of 7 matches. During this period, he has scored one century and 3 half-centuries. Delhi Capitals included Prithvi Shaw in IPL 2026, but he did not get a chance to play in a single match. Shaw has been out of Team India for a long time. Now it remains to be seen when Shaw returns to Team India.

West Zone team for Duleep Trophy

Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain, Maharashtra), Shams Mulani (Vice-Captain, Mumbai), Prithvi Shaw (Maharashtra), Harvik Desai (Wicketkeeper, Saurashtra), Urvil Patel (Wicketkeeper, Gujarat), Shivalik Sharma (Baroda), Mushir Khan (Mumbai), Sarfaraz Khan (Mumbai), Jaymeet Patel (Gujarat), Siddharth Desai (Gujarat), Tanush Kotian (Mumbai), Tushar Deshpande. (Mumbai), Shardul Thakur (Mumbai), Atit Seth (Baroda), Mukesh Chaudhary (Maharashtra).