Andre Siddarth and Smaran Ravichandran Called Up to South Zone Squad for Duleep Trophy Final; Ricky Bhui Named Vice-Captain

South Zone have made two forced changes to their Duleep Trophy Squad for the final, starting September 11 at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru while also naming Ricky Bhui as the new vice-captain of the team.

Following the selection of N Jagadeesan and Devdutt Padikkal in the India A squad for the unofficial Tests against Australia A, the selectors have brought in Andre Siddarth (Tamil Nadu) and Smaran Ravichandran (Karnataka) as replacements.

Jagadeesan was the Player of the Match in the drawn semifinal against North Zone - his 197 in the first innings instrumental to their progress as it set South Zone up for a significant lead. He also made an unbeaten 52 in the second innings.

Additionally, the zonal selectors have also named Ajay Rohera (Pondicherry) and Aniket Reddy (Hyderabad) as stand-by players for the title clash.

South Zone will face Central Zone in the final.

South Zone squad: Azharuddin (Captain & Wicketkeeper), Ricky Bhui (Vice-Captain), Smaran Ravichandran, Kale M, Sheikh Rasheed, Tanmay Agarwal, Salman Nizar, Andrew Siddarth, Tanay Thyagarajan, Gurjabneet Singh, Nidheesh, Kaushik V, Ankit Sharma, T Vijay, Basil NP

Stand-bys: Mohit Redkar (Goa), Snehal Kautankar (Goa), Eden Apple Tom (Kerala), Ajay Rohera (Pondicherry), G Anikeeth Reddy (Hyderabad)