The India test captain, Shubman Gill, is likely to miss the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2025 due to illness, with Ankit Kumar to lead the North Zone squad in the absence of Gill.

According to reports, Gill underwent a blood test, the results of which were submitted to the BCCI. The physios recently examined the 25-year-old and submitted the health status report to the BCCI a day ago.

He is currently in chandigarh, resting at home after leading India to 2-2 draw in the five match test series in England.

The North Zone selection committee has been anticipating the possibility of Shubman Gill’s unavailability for the inter-zonal competition, scheduled to begin on August 28 at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru.

However, they had not received any official communication from the North Zone associations.

Meanwhile, after being selected in the India squad for Asia Cup 2025, Shubman Gill would have been available only for  one game against East Zone which is scheduled to be played from August 28 to 31.

However, the official update on Gill’s availability is expected within the next two days, as only five days are left for the clash.

If he is fit, the opener would not have played the tournament in full, with national duty in the Asia Cup, which is scheduled to start on September 09 in the UAE.

Meanwhile, the Duleep Trophy 2025 will run from August 28 to September 15, and Gill’s participation would have been restricted to only opening fixture.

Shubham Rohilla will be replacing Shubam Gill in the squad as the selectors had already made that arrangement anticipating the latter’s selection in the Asia Cup squad. Moever, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit rana of North Zone are also part of India’s Asia Cup squad and they will also leave after the first match.