Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) today announced, with immense pleasure, that Sandeep Pattanaik had been selected to represent East Zone in the Duleep Trophy Cricket Tournament 2025, scheduled to be played at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru from August 28 to September 15.

The 15-member East Zone team, featurING six players from Jharkhand, five from Bengal, two from Assam and one each from Odisha and Tripura, will be led by Ishan Kishan with Abhimanyu Easwaran as his deputy. Just one berth for Odisha is one of many indications where the State stands in the East Zone, let alone IPL and National teams.

Duleep Trophy Tournament 2025 will feature six teams and five matches _ two quarterfinals, two semifinals and the final. East Zone will meet North Zone in the first quarterfinal from August 28 to 31. The second quarterfinal will take place between Central Zone and North East Zone. South Zone and West Zone will play the semifinals directly.

EAST ZONE TEAM FOR DULEEP TROPHY 2025: Ishan Kishan, Virat Singh, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Utkarsh Singh, Manishi (all Jharkhand); Abhimanyu Easwaran, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Shami (all Bengal); Denish Das, Riyan Parag (both Assam), Sandeep Pattanaik (Odisha), Sridam Paul (Tripura).

Stand-by: Mukhtar Hussain, Rahul Singh (both Assam); Aashirwad Swain, Swastik Samal (both Odisha), Sudip K Gharami (Bengal), Vaibhav Suryavanshi (Bihar).
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PHOTO: File picture of Sandeep Pattanaik, the only saving grace for Odisha.