Senior Indian cricketers, which includes the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravichandran Ashwin, won’t turn out for the Duleep Trophy that begins on September 5. There were earlier reports that the Board of Control for Cricket in India has asked the veterans to turn up for domestic cricket and get their match fitness right for the upcoming home series against Bangladesh and New Zealand. However, since India has as many as 10 Test matches in the next five months, it has now been decided that these senior players will be rested.
Other big names of Indian cricket, like KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, will be part of the Duleep Trophy. Mohammed Shami, who would be doing his rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy here, is also likely to play at least one match before rejoining the national squad in time for the Bangladesh series.
Mohammed Shami is pretty optimistic of getting back full match fitness and the selectors are likely to take a call on readiness before he resumes international cricket. This season has been different in terms of the format of the Duleep Trophy. Until then, it was contested by six teams, each consisting of different geographical regions of India: North, South, East, West, Central, and North-East.
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The format has been tweaked this time following recommendations by former India head coach Rahul Dravid and current NCA chief VVS Laxman. According to ESPNcricinfo, the reason behind the change is to have more players under assessment.
Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah Out As Duleep Trophy First Round Match Shifts To Bengaluru#RavichandranAshwin #JaspritBumrah #DuleepTrophy https://t.co/JBmHIIh4TK
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With the Test season not too far away, the BCCI would want to keep a close eye on many cricketers, particularly those who have very limited experience in red-ball cricket.
It would be looking toward the likes of Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, and Mayank Yadav, but some of the seniors may also be tested—KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer. The other player who could be at the forefront of this tournament is Ishan Kishan.
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Later this month, the BCCI selectors would meet to complete the squad and name captains for each team. This year, the Duleep Trophy will be played by four teams in a round-robin format, wherein each team will play the other three. The tournament is scheduled to end on September 22 and the team which accrues the most number of points at the end of the round-robin stage will win the championship. This is an innovative format that surely provides a more competitive and complete assessment of players ahead of the upcoming international assignments.
