Punjab's hard-hitting top-order batter Mandeep Singh was on Thursday appointed captain of the North Zone squad for the upcoming Duleep Trophy. The tournament is scheduled to be played in Tamil Nadu from September 8-25. Experienced Delhi batter Dhruv Shorey will be Mandeep's deputy in the premier zonal event.
Bengal's seasoned run-machine Manoj Tiwary will lead the East Zone team, and he will be assisted by Jharkhand's Virat Singh.
Meanwhile, veteran India pacer Ishant Sharma has made himself available for the Ranji Trophy.
Among others, the North Zone side also comprises India pacer Navdeep Saini, Punjab seamer Siddharth Kaul and India U-19 World Cup-winning captain Yash Dhull of Delhi.
North Zone squad: Yash Dhull (Delhi), Dhruv Shorey (vice-captain, Delhi), Manan Vohra (Uttarakhand), Mandeep Singh (captain, Punjab), Himanshu Rana (Himachal Pradesh), Akash Vashisht (Himachal Pradesh), Anmol Malhotra (wk, Punjab), Mayank Dagar (Himachal Pradesh), Pulkit Narang (Services), Navdeep Saini (Delhi), Siddharth Kaul (Punjab), Jagjit Singh (Uttarakhand), Nishant Sindhu (Himachal Pradesh), Qamran Iqbal(Jammu and Kashmir), Vikas Mishra (Delhi).
East Zone squad: Manoj Tiwary (captain), Sudip Kr Gharami, Anushtup Majumdar, Abhishek Porel (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Ishan Porel, Akash Deep (all Bengal), Virat Singh (vice-captain), Nazim Siddiqui, Kumar Kushagra, Shahbaz Nadeem (all Jharkhand), Mukhtar Hussain, Riyan Parag (Assam), Mani Shankar Mura Singh (Tripura), Shantanu Mishra (Odisha).