Kerala batsman Mohammad Azharuddin has been appointed as the captain of the South region in place of Tilak Verma on Sunday for the Duleep Trophy 2025 semi -finals against North Zone at the BCCI Center of Eclice from September 4. Tilak Verma has been selected in the Indian team for the T20 Asia Cup 2025 and hence he will not play further in the Dalip Trophy. Indian players are to reach Dubai on 4 September, while the semi -finals of the Dalip Trophy are also to start from this day.
Azharuddin was the vice-captain of the team along with Tilak Verma and now the role of vice-captain has been handed over to N Jagdishan of Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu’s left -arm spinner R Sai Kishore will also not play in the semi -finals, as he is still recovering from hand injury. Ankit Sharma of Puducherry and Sheikh Rashid of Andhra have been included in the South region team for the last four matches of the Dalip Trophy. Both these players were first placed in standby.
Ankit is a left -handed spinner who has taken 168 wickets in 68 first -class matches. Rashid is a top -order batsman to score 1204 runs in 19 matches of Ranji Trophy. Many experienced players are with this team. However, the North Zone is also full of good players, which will make this match even more special. Both have been drawn the quarter -final match. In such a situation, the semi -final matches will become more interesting.