The Indian 2024-25 domestic season starts tomorrow. Barring a couple of big names like Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin, the best players from all over India will compete in the first-class tournament, the Duleep Trophy 2024. Played at the same time in two different venues, Bengaluru and Anantapur, the first round of matches will serve as the perfect precursor for the India vs Bangladesh Test series.
Team A vs B: Sai Kishore eyes maiden call-up, Pant ready for red-ball
Shubman Gill, Dhruv Jurel, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, and Mukesh Kumar—all of these players will be in action in the first match between Team A and B at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. All these players have represented Team India in Test cricket this year alone. Of these nine, five have basically confirmed their spots in the squad for the India vs Bangladesh Test series.
Players like Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube and Washington Sundar have represented India in white-ball cricket recently and have a good record in first-class cricket as well. An outstanding performance can prop their names up as well. In the Team A vs B match, two players will be there to watch out for: Rishabh Pant and R Sai Kishore.
Pant has played ODIs and T20Is for India since his return but hasn’t played a first-class game in 20 months. It’ll be fascinating to see how he performs. We can expect him to return to the Test side regardless, as it’s his best format, but it’s yet to be seen how he plays in the most difficult format. Kishore, meanwhile, has himself claimed that he’s ready to play for India. He can back that claim as well. He was the highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy 2023-24, and that too by quite a distance, and he can hold the bat as well.
Duleep Trophy 2024: Team A vs B Squads
Team A: Shubman Gill (C), Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel (WK), KL Rahul, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Vidwath Kaverappa, Kumar Kushagra, Shaswat Rawat.
Team 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).
Team C vs D: Kishan & Shreyas look for redemption, Arshdeep to audition
Unlike the first match, not as many Test players will feature in the Team C vs D game. Only Rajat Patidar, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel and KS Bharat will be in action in Anantapur. Axar’s place is guaranteed and only Padikkal has a chance to make the squad for the India vs Bangladesh Tests. The southpaw has a fifty on his debut and averages 45 in first-class cricket.
Patidar failed in the same series that Padikkal shined in, along with others like Iyer, Kishan, Bharat and Suryakumar, who were dropped from the team not too long ago. However, right now, it’s uncertain whether Surya or Kishan are fit for the game and will participate. Others like Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Manav Suthar, and Ricky Bhui are waiting to show that they are capable of performing at the highest level.
Arshdeep Singh is someone who the selectors are interested in. India hasn’t had a left-arm pacer who played regularly since Zaheer Khan and they want to change that. Arshdeep’s already played first-class cricket in India and overseas, but now that he has enough experience at the international stage, he might be ready to don the white jersey for India.
Duleep Trophy 2024: Team C vs D Squads
Team 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.
Team 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.
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