The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selectors, on multiple occasions in the past, have spoken about the importance of prioritizing the domestic tournaments. With the national side set to take part in five Tests at home, the reports claimed that both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the pillars of Indian cricket, are likely to make a return in the Duleep Trophy 2024.
Virat Kohli didn’t enjoy a great time in Sri Lanka during the three-match One-day International (ODI) series, as he struggled in all the games against the home spinners. With the home side expected to play the five Tests on slow and low surfaces at home, and later on taking Nathan Lyon, one of the current best spinners of the format, the development was to give both Kohli and Rohit the opening game of the Duleep Trophy to prepare themselves.
The tournament is due to begin on September 05, where most of the senior players like the two openers- KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, wicket-keepers Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel, Ishan Kishan, or the middle-order batters Suryakumar Yadav and Sarfaraz Khan were expected to make their appearance.
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and R Ashwin to miss Duleep Trophy 2024
However, within 24 hours of the first report, it was known that none of the captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, and premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah will be available for the season-opening competition.
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ESPNcricinfo has reported that the teams for the event are expected to be picked later this month by the panel led by Ajit Agarkar, as most of the centrally contracted players are set to make a return among the four teams.
Rajat Patidar, who was dropped from the team during the team’s last series against England at home at the start of the season, is set to make a return, along with Shubman Gill, who will have huge responsibilities on his shoulders, especially during the Australia trip. There is also the possibility of their veteran fast bowler Mohammad Shami marking his comeback in the game.
The Bengal bowler last played during the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup. Even though he was picked in the team for the South Africa tour, his name was taken away from the middle of the series due to injury, which also kept him away from the home England series and later from the entire Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
India will play ten Test matches in the next five months. The senior men’s side will begin their assignment with the opening red-ball game of the two-match series against Bangladesh, starting on September 19 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
With Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma not turning up for the Duleep Trophy, whose opening fixture on September 05 has been shifted to M. Chinnaswamy Stadium as the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has informed, his first appearance in the red-ball game will be in after nearly a year, as he missed the England series due to personal reasons.
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In February, BCCI secretary Jay Shah voiced how prioritizing IPL over domestic cricket would cause issues for the players, which later saw both Kishan and Shreyas Iyer being removed from the list of central contracts as they failed to make their comeback to the Ranji Trophy just before the IPL.
This new edition of the Duleep Trophy will be different from the past when the teams were divided based on the zones (North, South, East, West, Central, and Northeast). This season is set to run until September 22, where each side will face each other in a round-robin format with the topper of the standing ending as the winner.