The upcoming Duleep Trophy is expected to feature the superstars of Indian cricket including captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli with the selectors wanting all Test players available for the domestic tourney ahead of the upcoming home series against Bangladesh.
According to a report in The Indian Express, the Ajit Agarkar-led BCCI selection committee will be picking the squads for the four teams – India A, India B, India C and India D – slated to take part in the revamped Duleep Trophy.
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Besides Rohit and Kohli, the likes of Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel have also been asked to play in the competition.
Jasprit Bumrah, who played a vital role in India winning the 2024 T20 World Cup, will likely not feature in the tournament and there’s a possibility he might not even feature in the Bangladesh Tests.
India are set to play 10 Tests in the space of four months including five in India (two vs Bangladesh, three vs New Zealand) while five on the tour of Australia.
The Duleep Trophy comprising six matches will be held in Anantpur (Andhra Pradesh) from September 5 onwards.
However, as per the report, the venue could be shifted to M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru with the India cricketers agreeing to participate since Anantapur doesn’t have an airport.
While there’s no clarity over which game Rohit and Kohli will feature in but if the team management decides to host a camp in Chennai before the start of Bangladesh series, the duo will feature in the opening clash itself.
Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan, who were snubbed from BCCI’s annual contract list, are also expected to feature in the tournament. However, veterans Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane will not be considered with the team management moving on and putting their faith in the younger generation.
Both Iyer and Ishan were apparently punished for ignoring the BCCI diktat to not skip domestic competitions when on national duty. While Iyer has since made a return to the national team through the Sri Lanka ODI series earlier this month, Ishan hasn’t played international cricket for nearly nine months now.
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