Kerala's Mohammed Azharuddeen has been promoted as captain of the South Zone for the Duleep Trophy semifinal against the North Zone to begin at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru on September 4.

Azharuddeen has replaced Tilak Varma, who was expected to lead the South Zone, before getting called up to the India squad for the upcoming Asia Cup in the UAE. Tamil Nadu's N Jagadeesan has been named as vice-captain.

Besides Azharuddeen, who opens for Kerala across multiple formats, four other Malayalis are part of the South Zone squad. Middle order batter Salman Nizar and pacers M D Nidheesh and Basil N P are part of the squad. Young pacer Eden Apple Tom is among the six players on the standby list.

Tamil Nadu's R Sai Kishore will miss the semifinal due to a hand injury. Left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma of Puducherry and top-order batter Shaikh Rasheed of Andhra have been included in the squad.

In the second semifinal, the West Zone will play the Central Zone. The final is scheduled to begin on September 11.

South Zone squad: Mohammed Azharuddeen (Captain), Tanmay Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohit Kale, Salman Nizar, Narayan Jagadeesan, Tripurana Vijay, Tanay Thyagarajan, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Nidheesh MD, Ricky Bhui, Basil NP, Gurjapneet Singh, Snehal Kauthankar, Ankit Sharma, Shaikh Rasheed. Standbys: Mohit Redkar, R Smaran, Edhen Apple Tom, Andre Siddarth.

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