India's prestigious domestic cricket tournament, Duleep Trophy 2024 was expected to be a grand event with the participation of many high-profile players. However, last-minute pullouts and injuries have diminished its status to that of a regular domestic cricket tournament sanctioned by the BCCI. (More Cricket News)
The initial round of the four-day first-class tournament started on Thursday, 5 September with India A facing India B at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium and India C clashing with India D at Anantapur's Rural Development Trust Stadium.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma, start batter Virat Kohli, fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and veteran all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin were rested from participating in Duleep Trophy 2024. Then BCCI Secretary Jay Shah explained the reason behind the selector's decision.
"The decision was taken to avoid the risk of injury ahead of three crucial Test series. We should not insist on players like Rohit and Virat to play in the Duleep Trophy. They will risk injury", told Shah.
But other big names like Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer were set to feature in this year's Duleep Trophy.
In the first squad announcement of Duleep Trophy teams, many big names were present, but they kept pulling out due to various reasons and now only a handful of big names like Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill are left.
Star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, initially named in the India B squad, was released mysteriously -- without giving any official reason. His participation in the later stages of the tournament is still unclear.
India's T20I Captain, Suryakumar Yadav was ruled out of the first round of the Duleep Trophy after sustaining an injury during the Buchi Babu Invitational Tournament. He has not played any international Test match since his debut against Australia last year in Nagpur.
Ishan Kishan, who was also playing in the Buchi Babu Invitational tournament, sustained a groin injury and will not participate in the opening round of the Duleep Trophy. Sanju Samson was added as a replacement in the India D squad.
India are set to play a three-Test series against Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia. India will play 10 Test matches in total against these three teams and BCCI is eager to have a solid group of fast bowlers before the Test season.
But Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj and Umran Malik's recent injuries or illness led them to pull out from the Duleep Trophy 2024. Navdeep Saini replaced Siraj in the India B squad and Gaurav Yadav replaced Malik in the India C squad. Prasidh Krishna is undergoing rehabilitation following surgery on his left quadriceps tendon.
Nitish Kumar Reddy, after being diagnosed with a groin injury, was declared fit to participate in the tournament. He missed his international call-up during India's tour of Zimbabwe 2024 due to the injury.
The buzz around this year's Duleep Trophy is significant because it is the only long-format domestic cricket tournament in India before the high-profile Test season, which comprises 10 matches. These matches are crucial for India's chances to qualify for the World Test Championship final at Lord's next year.
Revised Full Squads of Duleep Trophy 2024:
India A: Shubman Gill (C), Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel (WK), KL Rahul, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Vidwath Kaverappa, Kumar Kushagra, Shaswat Rawat.
India B: Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Musheer Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, N Jagadeesan (WK).
India C: Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Abishek Porel (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, B Indrajith, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Gaurav Yadav, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Anshul Khamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markande, Aryan Juyal (WK), Sandeep Warrier.
India 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.
