Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will skip the Duleep Trophy, which marks the start of the Indian domestic season.
The Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Jay Shah, stated on Thursday that it is not appropriate to force top batsmen Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to compete in the Duleep Trophy since doing so will increase their risk of injury. Top Indian players from the international circuit as well as up-and-coming talent will compete at the highest level in the Duleep Trophy, which launches red-ball cricket in the domestic season. September 5, 2024, is the scheduled start date of the event in M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh.
The two cricketing greats shouldn’t be forced to participate in the competition, according to Shah, even if the BCCI is urging elite Indian players and regulars to play domestic cricket more frequently to lower their risk of injury. He also mentioned how none of the international players play domestic cricket in Australia or England.
Wisden cited Shah as saying, “We shouldn’t insist on players like Rohit and Virat to play in the Duleep Trophy,” during a media session with Mumbai. They run the chance of getting hurt. As you may have observed, not a single international player plays domestic cricket in England or Australia. We must show respect to the players.”
Notably, the competition will not feature any of India’s top red-ball cricket players, including captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Jasprit Bumrah.
Virat did not play in a Test match for India until 2010, whereas Rohit did not participate in the competition until 2016.
He said that other well-known figures, like Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer, who were stripped of their BCCI central contracts for allegedly not playing local red-ball cricket, will be active in domestic cricket in the days ahead.
“Everyone else is playing, except them. You ought to be grateful for it. It is important to remember that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan are competing in the Buchi Babu competition,” Shah said.
Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, and Suryakumar Yadav will compete in the Buchi Babu competition commencing on Thursday on behalf of their respective state teams.
Rishabh Pant, Kishan, Shubman Gill, and several more prominent Indian hitters are expected to participate in the Duleep Trophy 2024–25 season.
Most notably, pacer Prasidh Krishna will return to action following an extended absence due to injury. Krishan’s career has been marred by injuries since 2019. He had a quadriceps injury in 2024, a stress fracture in his left leg in 2019, and a stress fracture in his back in 2022.
Tilak Varma, a young batter, is competing in the competition as well. Near the conclusion of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, he sustained a wrist injury.
Musheer Khan, a young player who shone for India in the Under-19 World Cup, has been acknowledged for his perseverance. The all-rounder, 19, who won the Ranji Trophy with Mumbai earlier this year, had a breakthrough season. Musheer, who was awarded the Duleep Trophy, will want to leave his imprint.
The tournament’s opening round has also featured young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, albeit his participation is still pending health.
The Duleep Trophy will be used to replace players who have been picked to represent India against Bangladesh in the home Test series. On September 19, India will play Bangladesh in the first Test match of the series in Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium.
The four squads for the first round of the tournament:
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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