Venkatesh Iyer has been named captain to lead Central Zone in the upcoming Deodhar Trophy 2023, India's zonal List A domestic tournament. The star bowling all-rounder was in excellent form with the bat in the Indian Premier League 2023 (IPL) and now has been awarded an opportunity to lead a strong 15-member squad on Friday, July 14.
Despite Kolkata Knight Riders' struggles in IPL 2023, Venkatesh was impressive with a bat as he scored 404 runs in 14 innings at a strike rate of 145.84 and also scored his maiden hundred in the tournament. He didn't get a chance to bowl and was utilized as an impact player for the majority of the season.
Rinku Singh also finds a place in the Central Zone squad and will be looking to make a big impact to attract national team selectors' attention. He was tipped to make India's T20I team for the West Indies tour after smashing 474 runs at a strike rate of 149.52 with four fifties but it was not enough.
Both Rinku and Venkatesh were not part of any team in the previous edition of the tournament where three teams India A, India B, and India C participated. But BCCI has revamped the tournament structure with six zonal teams making it a 16-match tournament this year.
Central Zone will open their campaign in a big clash against East Zone which will be led by Jharkhand's Saurabh Tiwary at Puducherry's CPA Ground 3 starting on July 24. Siechem Stadium in Puducherry will be hosting a final on August 3 and Central Zone have a quality team to mount a strong title challenge this season.
Central Zone Squad For Deodhar Trophy 2023: Venkatesh Iyer (c), Madhav Kaushik, Shivam Chaudhary, Yash Dubey, Yash Kothai, Rinku Singh, Aryan Juyal, Upendra Yadav (wk), Karan Sharma, Aditya Sarvatey, Yash Thakur, Shivam Mavi, Aniketh Chaudhary (vc), Mohsin Khan, Akash Madhwal
