Duleep Trophy Begins Despite Confusion Over Availability of Players
Sep 7, 2017 at 4:15 PM
The cloud surrounding the Duleep Trophy doesn’t seem to end anytime soon even before the first ball is bowled in the first game of the 2017-18 season. The Indian domestic arena appeared to be going towards a doomed end before the Committee of Administrators stepped to reinstate it. With the international calendar packed the only way BCCI could have fitted the tournament was immediately but the decision as immediate as today has left few players like Ishant Sharma and Ambati Rayudu already making themselves unavailable.
It is a fact that the selection committee headed by former Indian wicket-keeper MSK Prasad had not got enough time to come up with a poll of 45 players and they must be given the due credit for announcing it at the earliest but still there seem to be major loopholes with many players already opting out.
Reports earlier suggested that already ten players have backed out of the tournament due to the packed schedule and sudden arrangement of the match. It is learned that some of the players will go for county stints while some others were not match fit.
It is a well-known fact that putting together a pool of 40 players in such a short time would be an arduous task, but the BCCI cannot use this as an excuse given the availability of the players and their fitness levels. As per reports, the Selection Committee was reluctant to name the players who had opted out of the tournament while KVP Rao who confirmed the statement was unavailable to comment.
The BCCI haven’t sent an official notice till now on the issue, and the confusion of the unavailability of the players and who would replace them will continue to hover until it is announced. Meanwhile, India completed a sensational 9-0 whitewash in Sri Lanka the first for any visiting country.