India, Sept. 5 -- The 2026 Duleep Trophy final kicks off on Sunday between South Zone and East Zone at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Two players who will be captaining their respective teams are also part of India's three-T20I squad against Afghanistan, and that rubber kicks off on September 13. Assuming the five-day Duleep Trophy final goes into the last day (September 10), Tilak Varma (South Zone captain) and Ishan Kishan (East Zone captain) will then have just a couple of days to prepare of the Afghanistan T20Is in New Delhi. It may appear nothing much, but changing formats just in a couple of days can be a big deal. They have been playing red-ball cricket for the last few weeks, and switching to the shortest format of the game i...