Venkatesh Iyer has been appointed captain to lead the Central Zone in the upcoming Deodhar Trophy 2023, India’s zonal List A domestic tournament. The star bowling all-rounder was in scintillating form with the bat in the Indian Premier League 2023.IPL) and have now been given the opportunity to lead a strong 15-member team on Friday, July 14.
Despite Kolkata Knight Riders’ struggles in IPL 2023, Venkatesh put in an impressive show with the bat, scoring 404 runs in 14 innings at a strike rate of 145.84 and also scored his maiden century in the tournament. He did not get a chance to bowl and was used as an impact player for most of the season.
Rinku Singh has also found a place in the central zone team and will be looking to make a big impact to attract the attention of the national team selectors. After scoring 474 runs at a strike rate of 149.52 with four fifties, he was expected to find a place in India’s T20I squad for the West Indies tour, 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 the BCCI has changed the structure of the tournament this year with six regional teams and made it a 16-match tournament.
The Central Zone will begin their campaign in a big clash against the East Zone, which will be led by Jharkhand’s Saurabh Tiwary, at the CPA Ground 3 in Puducherry from July 24. The Sichem Stadium in Puducherry will host the final on August 3 and Central Zone have a quality team. To put up a strong title challenge this season.
Central Zone Team for Deodhar Trophy 2023: Venkatesh Iyer (c), Madhav Kaushik, Shivam Chowdhary, Yash Dubey, Yash Kothai, Rinku Singh, Aryan Juyal, Upendra Yadav (wk), Karan Sharma, Aditya Sarwate, Yash Thakur, Shivam Mavi, Aniket Chowdhary (vc), Mohsin Khan Akash Madhwal