The 4-team competition, the Duleep Trophy, will kick off the Indian 2024-25 domestic season on September 5. Shubman Gill’s Team A and Abhimanyu Easwaran’s Team B will face off at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in the first match of the red-ball tournament.
12 players who are in the Test team or roundabout are part of the squad and will start. With the India vs Bangladesh Test series coming up, all of these players are expected to feature in their respective XIs. Naturally, if the international stars are to play, others have to miss out.
Team A: No place for Khaleel, shoutout between Dube & Parag
Shubman Gill and Mayank Agarwal will open for Team A. Either KL Rahul and Tilak Verma can bat at 3 or 4, and Dhruv Jurel, who’d impressed in the India vs England Test series earlier in the year, will bat at 5. This means we could see one of Riyan Parag or Shivam Dube miss out. Both averaged over 65 in the last Ranji Trophy season, having played not more than 5 matches. But, with just one spot left, one all-rounder has to miss out.
Tanush Kotian will be the only uncapped bowler. The southpaw who took 29 wickets and scored 502 runs in the last Ranji Trophy season will partner up with Kuldeep Yadav. Akash Deep and Avesh Khan, who played Tests for India in the last year, will also play. Khaleel Ahmed, who was part of the Zimbabwe tour, will also play as the squad’s only left-arm pacer.
Duleep Trophy: India A’s Predicted XI
Shubman Gill (C), Mayank Agarwal, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Shivam Dube/Riyan Parag, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan.
Team B: Khan brothers unite, no place for Navdeep Saini
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Abhimanyu Easwaran will open for Team B. U-19 star Musheer Khan will play alongside his brother Sarfaraz Khan, and Rishabh Pant will play his first red-ball match since December 2022. It’s yet to be confirmed whether he’ll be fit or not, but Nitish Kumar Reddy would be a sure-shot starter.
Washington Sundar and R Sai Kishore will be the two finger-spinning all-rounders. Mukesh Kumar will be the leader of the pace bowling pack. Mohit Avasthi, who was great for Mumbai in the last Ranji season, will play ahead of Navdeep Saini, while Yash Dayal, who earned himself a BCCI fast bowling contract, will start as well.
Duleep Trophy: India B’s Predicted XI
Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Musheer Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Avasthi, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar.
