In Indian home cricket’s latest historical past, Duleep Trophy has been the laboratory. Performed within the zonal format for greater than 5 many years, the red-ball match, beginning 2016-17, has seen gamers inorganically distributed into groups named blue, inexperienced and pink, the color of the ball modified and even performed below lights.
Two years in the past, it went again to the unique region-wise format, just for the BCCI top-brass to shake issues up once more. From Thursday, 4 groups, uncreatively named A, B, C and D, will compete on this 12 months’s competitors, with A taking on B on the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium and C assembly D in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, within the first spherical.
For all of the experiments, although, Duleep Trophy isn’t an occasion searching for that means. India-A could properly have change into the stepping stone for national-team choice, however an enormous splash within the Duleep, particularly when it’s the season-opener, could make the ripples journey far and broad.
The tourney can also be being held at a time when the BCCI has brandished a stick at these chasing solely IPL carrots and made it clear that red-ball stays the premier format.
Towards this backdrop, the cream of India’s cricketing expertise, together with national-team India regulars akin to Shubman Gill, Ok.L. Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav and Yashasvi Jaiswal will all be in motion. Swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will return to red-ball cricket for the primary time since his horrific automotive accident in December 2022.
With the house Take a look at collection towards Bangladesh simply two weeks away and India-A set to embark on a tour of Australia in November, shadowing the nationwide workforce, the Ajit Agarkar-led choice panel and the brand new team-management helmed by head coach Gautam Gambhir will likely be wanting on the Duleep Trophy for just a few cues to shore up the bench energy.
Sarfaraz Khan throughout a nets forward of the Duleep Trophy opener on the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru on Wednesday, September 4, 2024.
| Photograph Credit score:
SUDHAKARA JAIN
Excessive on the want checklist would be the unearthing of a back-up opener to Yashasvi and Rohit Sharma. With Virat Kohli and Rahul anticipated to fit again straight in after lacking almost the entire of the house collection towards England, a handful, led by Sarfaraz Khan, will look to make the grade as middle-order reinforcements.
India is scheduled to play 10 Exams in lower than 4 months. So, discovering fast-bowling reserves from amongst Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar, Vidwath Kaverappa and so on. can even be of paramount significance. However Prasidh Krishna will miss the Duleep opener, courtesy an damage that has saved him out since January.
The groups (from): A: Shubman Gill (C), Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, KL Rahul, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Vidwath Kaverappa, Kumar Kushagra, Shaswat Rawat.
B: Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant, Musheer Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, N Jagadeesan.
Match begins at 9.30 a.m.
Revealed – September 04, 2024 08:25 pm IST
