From Rohit Sharma to Bumrah, All A-listers Cricketers To Compete In Duleep Trophy

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, and Jasprit Bumrah will miss India’s season-opening Duleep Trophy starting September 5. The selection panel, led by Ajit Agarkar, will pick the teams later this month. However, many centrally-contracted players will participate in the four-team competition.

Key players to watch include KL Rahul, who missed most of the England Tests earlier this year due to injury, and Rishabh Pant, who might play his first red-ball game since recovering from a car accident in December 2022. Other notable players likely to be selected are Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Suryakumar Yadav, and Rajat Patidar.

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Mohammed Shami, nearing full fitness, may also be included in the matches to prove his match readiness. He is currently finishing his rehab at the NCA in Bengaluru and has gradually increased his bowling workload.

With India set to play 10 Tests over the next five months, including a series in Bangladesh starting September 19, senior players will get a break before these assignments. One of the Duleep Trophy games, initially scheduled for Anantapur, might be moved to Bengaluru due to logistical reasons. The Karnataka State Cricket Association has been informally asked to host it.

The BCCI’s focus on domestic cricket is reflected in their decision to involve several contracted players in the competition. In February, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah had warned that prioritizing the IPL over domestic cricket could have “severe implications,” leading to the removal of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan’s central contracts for missing Ranji Trophy games before the IPL.

This season, the Duleep Trophy format was changed to a four-team round-robin competition, as recommended by a BCCI working group. The goal is to give selectors a broader pool of players to evaluate before the Test season. The tournament will run until September 22, with each team playing the others once, and the top team at the end of the round-robin will be declared the winner.