The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday announced the squads for the first round of the 2024 Duleep Trophy, which will mark the beginning of red-ball cricket in the domestic season. The tournament will be played between September 5 and 24 in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, and M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, and will feature some of the top stars from international cricket, along with some of the young and emerging talent.
According to media reports in the build-up to the squad announcement, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee urged all players, including the India regulars, to be available for the Duleep Trophy, given that it would play a vital role for the selectors to pick the 15-member squad for the upcoming home series against Bangladesh, which will begin on September 19.
The tournament will mark the return of Rishabh Pant into the red-ball fray for the first time since his car accident in December 2022. Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan, who were ignored for the BCCI central contract earlier this year, have also been named for the Duleep Trophy tournament, along with other top players like KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill and Kuldeep Yadav.
However, India captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah have all been rested for the tournament given that the national team is slated to play 10 Test matches over the next four months, which includes the Border-Gavaskar series in Australia in December.
Overall, 61 players have been picked for the first round of the 2024 Duleep Trophy, keeping an eye on the selection for the Bangladesh Test series. However, the selectors have ignored quite a few big names for the tournament…
Batters: Ajinkya Rahane, Abhishek Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Sanju Samson (WK) and Rinku Singh
The selectors had earlier hinted that Rahane and Pujara are no longer relevant to the committee’s eagerness to consider long-term options. However, the two most notable omissions have been Rinku and Samson. The left-handed middle-order batter has featured in 47 first-class matches, scoring 3173 runs at an average of 54.70. He even stood a step away from earning his maiden India Test call-up when he was added to the A squad for a four-day match against England Lions earlier this year. Samson, on the other hand, okayed 62 first-class games, scoring 3623 runs at an average of 38.54.
Prithvi, who was part of the Rahane-led Mumbai team that won the 2023–24 edition of the Ranji Trophy, is yet to earn another opportunity to don the Indian jersey for the first time since July 2021. He is currently part of the Northamptonshire squad in the One-Day Cup in England. Venkatesh Iyer, too, missed out on the Duleep Trophy squad after BCCI made quite a few notable additions of fast-bowling all-rounders like Shivam Dube and Nitish Kumar Reddy. Iyer too is part of the One-Day Cup tournament, playing for Lancashire.
Hanuma was the captain if the South Zone team that lifted the Duleep Trophy title in 2023, yet he was ignored for the 2024 tournament.
Bowlers: Umesh Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Jaydev Unadkat
Following an impressive county stint, Jayant, who last played for India in 2021, continued his sublime form in the Ranji Trophy last season, yet the selectors snubbed him. Umesh, too, has been ignored following a Ranji Trophy season where he picked 29 wickets for Vidarbha in eight matches at 28.55.
