South Zone will head into the Duleep Trophy final against East Zone without the services of KL Rahul, who won’t be available for the match after being confirmed by captain Tilak Varma on Saturday. The match is scheduled to begin on Sunday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Earlier, there were reports suggesting that KL Rahul had been instructed by the national selection committee to take part in the domestic tournament. However, Tilak made it clear that Rahul is not currently with the South Zone squad in Chennai and will therefore not be part of the playing XI for the final.
The South Zone side has, meanwhile, been boosted by the inclusion of Mohammed Siraj and Devdutt Padikkal. Both players have been added to the squad ahead of the clash. East Zone, on the other hand, have a full-strength squad, boasting like young batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan and veteran pacer Mohammed Shami.