Indian players feature across Duleep Trophy 2026 semi-finals in Bengaluru

Indian players were prominent in the Duleep Trophy 2026 semi-finals, contested between Central Zone and East Zone, and South Zone and North Zone, which began on August 30 at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. The matches provided another platform for players to contend for a spot in the Indian Test side amid a phase of major changes in the red-ball team.

The 2026 edition has returned to the tournament’s traditional format as a four-day zonal contest during the domestic season, with defending champions Central Zone facing East Zone in the first semi-final and South Zone meeting North Zone in the other knockout. The early rounds of the domestic campaign have put these fixtures under close scrutiny from selectors and observers.

In the first semi-final Central Zone were bowled out for 266, with Rinku Singh contributing a 60 off 88 balls and Harsh Dubey scoring 27. East Zone matched that total, propelled by a noteworthy innings from Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Mukesh Kumar was one of Central’s standout performers with the ball, taking 3/56, while Mohammed Shami claimed 2/42; Harsh Dubey later took 4/66 as East were also dismissed for 266.

A list of individual performances recorded across the semi-finals includes Tilak Varma (South Zone) – 116 runs, Rajat Patidar (Central Zone) – 17 runs, Rinku Singh (Central Zone) – 80 runs, Harsh Dubey (Central Zone) – 51 runs and 4* wickets, Saransh Jain (Central Zone) – 14 runs and 0* wickets, Mohammed Shami (East Zone) – 5 wickets, Mukesh Kumar (East Zone) – 7 wickets, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (East Zone) – 132* runs, Ishan Kishan (East Zone) – 16 runs, Ayush Badoni (North Zone) – 2 runs, Arshdeep Singh (North Zone) – 2 wickets, Anshul Kamboj (North Zone) – 2 wickets, and Gurnoor Brar (North Zone) – 4 wickets.

The second semi-final between South Zone and North Zone saw South Zone continue to press the contest under a determined captain who scored the bulk of the side’s runs, as reported during the match. That fixture remains part of the knockout phase determining the finalists in this zonal, four-day format.

Central Zone entered the 2026 semi-finals as the defending Duleep Trophy champions from 2025, and performances in these matches are being monitored for their potential influence on Test selection during the ongoing adjustments to India’s red-ball setup.