Four squads for the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2024, which commences on September 5 in Bengaluru, has been announced which will see a host of Indi's star players taking part in the tournament. While the tournament will feature many players from the current Team India set up, senior players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and R Ashwin have been granted exemptions.
Debate Surrounds Senior Players' Participation
The selectors have carefully curated the squads, aiming to provide opportunities for both domestic performers and promising young talent. The tournament will witness the participation of prominent players such as Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mohammed Siraj. However, there has been discussion regarding the inclusion of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the Duleep Trophy squad. BCCI secretary Jay Shah has clarified that their participation was not deemed necessary for the tournament.
"Apart from them, everyone else is playing. You should appreciate that. One must note that Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer are playing in the Buchi Babu tournament. We should not insist on players like Rohit and Virat to play in the Duleep Trophy. They will risk injury. If you have noticed, in Australia and England, every international player does not play domestic cricket. We have to treat the players with respect," Shah told TOI.
Meanwhile, India's T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, who has one Test match under his belt, has been included in one of the Duleep Trophy squads. The remaining squad members have already secured their places in the Indian team. Star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, a member of the T20 World Cup-winning squad, will also be making his much-anticipated return to red-ball cricket after recovering from a serious car accident in 2022.
Ishan Kishan returns
Left-handed wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan, who was previously removed from the BCCI's central contract list for skipping the Ranji Trophy, will be making a comeback to competitive cricket through the Duleep Trophy. Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel, both instrumental in India's series victory over England, are also set to participate. Additionally, wicketkeepers Aryan Juyal and Abhishek Porel have been included in the squads.
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Duleep Trophy squads
Team A: Shubman Gill (C), Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, KL Rahul, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Vidwath Kaverappa, Kumar Kushagra, Shaswat Rawat.
Team B: Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant, Musheer Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Siraj, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, N Jagadeesan (WK).
Team C: Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Abishek Porel (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, B Indrajith, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Umran Malik, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Anshul Khamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markande, Aryan Juyal (WK), Sandeep Warrier.
Team D: Shreyas lyer (C), Atharva Taide, Yash Dubey, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan (WK), Ricky Bhui, Saransh Jain, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Aditya Thakare, Harshit Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Sengupta, KS Bharat (WK), Saurabh Kumar.
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