Dhruv Jurel, who impressed during India's series-levelling tour of England, was on Thursday named captain of Central Zone for the season-opening Duleep Trophy, set to begin on August 28 in Bengaluru.
The Uttar Pradesh keeper was drafted in as a substitute stumper after Rishabh Pant sustained a finger injury during the third Test at Lord's.
He kept wickets again in the fourth Test after Pant fractured his toe, and was later picked for the fifth and final match at The Oval, where India clinched a thrilling six-run win to level the hard-fought series 2-2.
The squad also includes left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav and he's set to return to competitive action after warming the bench in the five-Test series.
Kuldeep will form a potent spin trio alongside left-arm spinners Harsh Dubey of reigning Ranji Trophy champions Vidarbha and Rajasthan's Manav Suthar.
Dubey created history last season by claiming a record-breaking 69 wickets in a single Ranji season.
The pace attack will be spearheaded by Khaleel Ahmed, who is returning after cutting short his county stint with Essex due to personal reasons.
He is likely to share the new ball with Deepak Chahar, who is back in the mix after recovering from an injury sustained in the IPL.
Chahar had missed two matches for Mumbai Indians but was recently seen bowling at India's nets at The Oval.
The batting is bolstered by Vidarbha's Yash Rathod, the top run-scorer of the last Ranji Trophy with 960 runs.
His teammate Danish Malewar, who struck 153 and 73 in the final against Kerala, has also been rewarded as four players from Vidarbha were named in the squad.
Vidarbha's Ranji Trophy-winning coach Usman Ghani was named the head coach of the team.
Central Zone Squad: Dhruv Jurel (capt and wk; UPCA), Rajat Patidar (vice-captain; MPCA), Aryan Juyal (wk; UPCA), Ayush Pandey (CSCS), Danish Malewar (VCA), Shubham Sharma (MPCA), Sanjeet Desai (CSCS), Yash Rathod (VCA), Kuldeep Yadav (UPCA), Harsh Dubey (VCA), Aditya Thakre (VCA), Manav Suthar (RCA), Deepak Chahar (RCA), Khaleel Ahmed (RCA), Saransh Jain (MPCA).
Stand-bys: Mahipal Lomror (RCA), Yash Thakur (VCA), Madhav Kaushik (UPCA), Kuldeep Sen (MPCA), Yuvraj Chaudhary (CAU), Upendra Yadav (wk; RSPB).
This report includes content sourced from Press Trust of India (PTI), edited for clarity and context.
