The Duleep Trophy 2025 is on the beckoning and the premier red-ball tournament is all set to have six teams divided into zones to compete at the highest level in Indian domestic cricket. One of the teams taking part will be Central Zone, in which players from Vidarbha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Railway, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Chhattisgarh are picked.

While it would be natural to think of Rajat Patidar’s appointment as the skipper for the Central Zone squad, since he also captains MP, he is now ruled out of the tournament owing to an injury. According to reports, the selectors are mulling their heads over the appointment of Akshay Wadkar as their captain for the upcoming Duleep season.

It can be confirmed that Wadkar was always going to be the first choice to lead the Central Zone squad, regardless of Patidar’s presence in it. “Obviously it is gonna be Wadkar. That’s not even a question even if Patidar was there!” a source in the know of the development told CricTracker.

Hailing from Nagpur, Wadkar is a veteran wicketkeeper-batter and had recently led Vidarbha to their third Ranji Trophy title win in six years, when they won the 2024-25 season by beating Kerala in the finals. Not just his captaincy, but Wadkar also stood out as a batter down the order for his home team, smashing 722 runs in just 10 games at an average of 45.22 when the team had the likes of Karun Nair, Yash Rathod, and Darshan Malewar in the arsenal.

Meanwhile, the South Zone selectors have already picked their squad for the tournament, and Karun Nair, who joined Karnataka after enjoying a two-season stint with Vidarbha back ahead of the start of the season, was not present in the 16-member contingent. In a rare sight, only a couple of names from Karnataka, among the strongest domestic sides over the years, is present in the South Zone squad. The selection committee has picked the duo of Devdutt Padikkal and Vyshak Vijaykumar as the KSCA inclusion for the six-team tournament, beginning August 28.