The pillars of Indian cricket, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, have been asked to feature in a domestic tournament of the red-ball format before the start of the two-match Test series against Bangladesh, which is due to begin on September 19 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Both the current captain of the Test side, Rohit Sharma, and the former leader of the team, Virat Kohli, were part of the recently concluded One-day international series of three games in Sri Lanka. Even though the former did well with the bat, the latter looked in a poor touch against the opponent’s spin attack.
With India hosting New Zealand for another three Tests in the middle of their home season, most of the tracks are expected to be slow, low, and helpful for the spinners, which will test the batters in their temperament and technique.
Virat Kohli could feature in the opening fixture of the Duleep Trophy in Bengaluru
The premier batter of the team across formats, Virat Kohli is likely to be part of the star side which would be picked for the Duleep Trophy 2024 by the selection committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The tournament will be played in a different format this season, starting on September 05.
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A few reports have also claimed that some of the other senior members of the side, opening batters Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul, the spin all-rounders Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja, the chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, and middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav are expected to feature in the competition.
Mohammad Shami is also expected to make a return through the tournament and then the Bangladesh series. However, their ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah could be offered a long period of rest and recovery, looking ahead to the schedule where Virat Kohli and co., the side is going to play ten Tests in the next four months, including five in Australia.
Thanks to the zonal format of the event, Ajit Agarkar’s panel will select four squads for India A, India B, India C, and India D. In another recent report, it has been confirmed that the opening game of the fixture will take place at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
“This decision comes at the request of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). We have agreed to host the match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.” A KSCA (Karnataka State Cricket Association) official expressed to Cricbuzz. However, it’s yet to be clear whether Virat Kohli and Rohit will be available for the first game on September 05 or the second-round game a week later.
The BCCI secretary, Jay Shah, has stated that all the national players will have to make themselves available for the domestic competition, apart from the top-notch national players like Rohit, Kohli, and Bumrah, as Sky and Sarfaraz Khan will be playing the Buchi Babu invitational tournament in Tamil Nadu from August 15.
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The selectors are also planning to add the wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan for the Duleep Trophy games, as the batter is set to resume his career in the red-ball game. Both he and Shreyas Iyer were dropped from the annual contract list of the BCCI as they failed to play the Ranji Trophy games despite the selection committee asking them to do so in the last season.
Barring the first game of the tournament, which is set to take place in Bengaluru, the rest of the game will be organized in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh.