The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) decision to reinstate Duleep Trophy looks set to backfire as some of the biggest attractions of the tournament are in line to miss the better part of the ongoing edition in Uttar Pradesh.
The board had initially removed the competition from this year’s calendar due to the packed international schedule but was forced to change mind after Committee of Administrators and its technical committee’s intervention. However, the board’s initial apprehension is now looking set to become a reality as 14 out of the 45 players, who are in the three squads of the tournament, have been named in the India A squad for the upcoming two four-day games against New Zealand A.
Karun Nair, who is currently plying his trade for India Green, will lead the A side in the series which will start on September 23 in Vijayawada. And with the final of the Duleep Trophy scheduled to be played from September 25, the squad announcement has caused quite a stir among the three teams.
“What happens if we make it to the final of the Duleep Trophy (from September 25 to 29)…we will be banking on new faces and notching up performances like we had in the tie which concluded today would be difficult,” a source associated with a Duleep Trophy team told Hindustan Times on Sunday (September 10).
Apart from Nair, Priyank Panchal, Ravi Samarth, Sudip Chatterjee, Ankit Bawne, Rishabh Pant, K Gowtham, Navdeep Saini, Mohd Siraj, Ankit Rajpoot and Shahbaz Nadeem have also been picked up in the squad.
Not only the finalists will suffer due to the players’ exit, but India Blue and India Green will be affected too as their last league match will finish on September 22, just one day before the first game against New Zealand.
“We could miss quite a few players for the third league game as well, as the match finishes on Sept 22 and the game against India-A starts on Sept 23,” a former Ranji cricketer said.
“We will have all the players for the next league match, but thereafter, you need to draw a different plan for the last game. This hotchpotch will take away the charm of the Duleep Trophy,” he added.
At the same time, the former players said that the exit of the players would be an opportunity for other players to prove themselves.
“It could be a lottery for some new faces as they might get a chance to showcase their abilities directly in the Duleep final,” he said.