Overview

• The red-ball tournament runs August 28–September 15 at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, with North vs East and Central vs North East opening on Thursday after the city stadium was ruled unsafe.
• South Zone and West Zone are seeded directly into the semifinals based on last season’s results.
• Full squads are confirmed with captains Dhruv Jurel (Central), Shubman Gill (North), Ishan Kishan (East), Tilak Varma (South) and Shardul Thakur (West), though Gill’s illness and Kishan’s injury cast doubt on their participation.
• Matches will stream on JioHotstar, with broadcasts carried on JioStar Network channels.
• Coverage highlights comeback bids from Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar and Rajat Patidar, and spotlights uncapped prospects Vijaykumar Vyshak, Abhimanyu Easwaran and Harsh Dubey.