MUMBAI: Saurashtra’s No 3 batter Jay Gohil, who was in the standbyes, on Monday replaced Sarfaraz Khan in the West Zone squad for the Duleep Trophy. Gohil scored 523 runs in six matches at an average of 58.11, including one hundred & fours fifties for Saurashtra in the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season. Overall, the 25-year-old Gohil has scored 860 runs in 12 first-class matches at an average of 47.77, with two hundreds and four fifties in first-class cricket.Gohil will be Saurashtra’s second player in the squad apart from promising ‘keeper-batter Harvik Desai. The young batter from Bhavnagar made his first-class debut for Saurashtra against Assam in Dec 2022, and was a part of the Kathiawar side’s Ranji Trophy winning campaign in the 2022-23 season.On Sunday, Sarfaraz replaced the injured Sai Sudharsan in the Indian squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka, starting on Aug 15 in Galle. The left-handed Sudarshan had suffered a toe injury during the India A tour last month and is recovering at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (COE) in Bengaluru.Captained by Maharashtra skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, West Zone will take on North Zone in their Duleep Trophy opener from Aug 23 at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.

Jay Gohil

“Yes, we’ve picked Gohil as Sarfaraz’s replacement, as he was in the standbys and was consistent in the Ranji Trophy for saurashtra this season,” West Zone and Mumbai chief selector Rajesh Pawar told TOI.The West Zone team will be captained by seasoned batter Ruturaj Gaikwad. Mumbai’s prolific left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Shams Mulani will be the vice-captain. The squad includes batter Prithvi Shaw, who is currently playing for Maharashtra, off-spinning allrounder Tanush Kotian, Sarfaraz’s younger brother Musheer Khan, and speedsters Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande. The team’s head coach will be former Mumbai allrounder Amit Dani.