Central Zone captain Dhruv Jurel and East Zone skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran missed the Duleep Trophy quarterfinals, which began in Bengaluru on Thursday, owing to fever and groin niggle respectively.
Easwaran's absence came as a big setback for the East Zone, who are facing a strong North Zone side here at the BCCI Centre of Excellence. East are already without the services of pacer Akash Deep and wicketkeeper batter Ishan Kishan.
With Easwaran unavailable, Assam all-rounder Riyan Parag was promoted as East Zone skipper.
It is learnt that Jurel, who has also been named as a standby in India's squad for the upcoming Asia Cup, had suffered a groin niggle on the eve of the match, and was advised to skip this match. The Test specialist had reported for the game.
Rajat Patidar, who led Royal Challengers Bengaluru to their first-ever IPL title earlier this year, is leading Central Zone in their quarterfinals against NorthEast Zone.
Patidar was the vice-captain of the team.
It may be recalled that North Zone is without skipper Shubman Gill, who was originally named to lead the side, after the India skipper failed to recover in time from a fever.
Haryana's Ankit Kumar, who was originally the vice-captain, is leading the North Zone while Shubham Goel has been added as a replacement for Gill.