MUMBAI: In a curious decision, the West Zone selectors on Thursday included both in-form openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad in the West Zone team for the Duleep Trophy, which will kick off in Bengaluru on June 28, while naming Gujarat opener Priyank Panchal as the captain of the side, who are the defending champions.
Both Jaiswal and Gaikwad are tipped to be picked for India’s Test team for the upcoming tour of the West Indies, as the duo was picked amongst the reserves for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia at The Oval earlier this month, though Gaikwad had to skip the match due to his marriage just before the marquee clash.
However, Jaiswal and Gaikwad’s inclusion in the West Zone Duleep Trophy squad is an indication that they may not be picked for the Tests in the Caribbean, as West Zone play their first match in the Duleep Trophy from July 5, when they take on the winners of the Central versus East Zone in the semifinals, at Alur.

With the first Test against West Indies scheduled to start from July 12 in Dominica, the Indian team is set to depart for the tour in the first week of July.
Surprisingly, the selectors have omitted Mumbai pacer Tushar Deshpande, who was the Chennai Super Kings’ top wicket-taker in IPL-2023, with 21 wickets in 16 games@26.85, from the main squad, and named him in the stand-byes.
Deshpande, who can clock around 140 clicks and was MS Dhoni’s main quick bowler in this IPL, had taken 23 wickets in six matches@25.69, with a best performance of five for 37 in the Ranji Trophy last season-the barometer for picking this squad.
The squad includes four openers-Jaiswal, Panchal, Gaikwad and Prithvi Shaw, who cracked a record 379 against Assam in the Ranji Trophy last season.
The squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Priyank Panchal (captain), Harvik Desai (wk), Prithvi Shaw, Het Patel (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Arpit Vasvada, Atit Seth, Shams Mulani, Yuvraj Dodiya, Dharmendra Jadeja, Chetan Sakariya, Chintan Gaja, Arzan Nagwaswalla.