Duleep Trophy 2024: Star-Studded Lineup Set for Red-Ball Season Opener in Bengaluru and Anantapur
The first-class domestic cricket tournament Duleep Trophy is going to start on September 5 in Bengaluru and Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj are some of the big names who will play in the first round of the Duleep Trophy. The Teams A, B, C and D picked by the men's selection committee for the tournament that kicks off the red-ball season do not include senior players like skipper Rohit Sharma, charismatic batsman Virat Kohli, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and pacer Jasprit Bumrah to keep them fresh for the grueling season. There is also no place for pacer Mohammed Shami, who is recovering from a heel injury he suffered earlier this year that required surgery and is currently at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
India will be eyeing how Rahul and Pant perform in the red-ball tournament. Rahul was ruled out of India's remaining Tests against England due to a quadriceps injury in the opening match in Hyderabad. He will play in Team 'A' led by Shubman Gill, which includes Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Tilak Verma, Shivam Dubey, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.
Left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman Pant is all set to play his first red-ball match after returning to cricket this year after a fatal car accident in December 2022. He will play for Team 'B' led by Bengal opener Abhimanyu Easwaran and has been named along with Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Mushir Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy (subject to fitness), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Yash Dayal and Mukesh Kumar.
India's new T20 captain Suryakumar will play for Team C', which will be captained by Ruturaj Gaikwad. Other key players include Sai Sudarshan, Rajat Patidar, Umran Malik, Abhishek Porel, Baba Indrajeet, Manav Suthar and Vyshak Vijaykumar. Iyer, who missed out on a central contract this year after missing a few Ranji Trophy matches last season, has been named captain of Team 'D'. He will lead a team comprising Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan, Ricky Bhui, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Tushar Deshpande, KS Bharat and Saurabh Kumar.
The players representing India for the upcoming home Test series against Bangladesh, starting in Chennai on September 19, will be switched to the Duleep Trophy, BCCI secretary Jay Shah said. India is scheduled to play 10 Tests till January - five Tests at home against Bangladesh and New Zealand, followed by five Tests in Australia.
Duleep Trophy Round One Team: Team A: Shubman Gill (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, KL Rahul, Tilak Verma, Shivam Dube, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Vidawath Kaverappa, Kumar Kushagra, Shaswat Rawat.
Team B: Abhimanyu Easwaran (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant, Mushir Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy (subject to participation), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, N. Jagadeesan (wicketkeeper).
Team C: Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Sai Sudarshan, Rajat Patidar, Abhishek Porel (wicketkeeper), Suryakumar Yadav, B. Indrajeet, Hrithik Shaukeen, Manav Suthar, Umran Malik, Vishak Vijaykumar, Anshul Kamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markande, Aryan Juyal (wicketkeeper), Sandeep Warrier.
Team D: Shreyas Layar (C), Atharva Tayde, Yash Dubey, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Ricky Bhui, Saransh Jain, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Aditya Thackeray, Harshit Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Sengupta, K.S. Bharat (wicketkeeper), Saurabh Kumar.