Captain Rohit Sharma, star batter Virat Kohli, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, and ace all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin were notable absentees as the Ajit Agarkar-led senior selection committee unveiled the star-studded squads for the opening round of the Duleep Trophy, set to commence on September 5.
The matches between Team A, Team B, Team C and Team D will be played in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh and M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
“The Men’s Selection Committee, on Wednesday announced the squads for the first round of the Duleep Trophy, 2024-25. The Duleep Trophy, which marks the beginning of red-ball cricket in the domestic season, will see some of the finest players from the international circuit and some of the young and emerging talent compete at the highest level,” the BCCI said in a release.
Shubman Gill, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Shreyas Iyer named captains of Team A, Team B, Team C and Team D respectively.
It will mark as the precursor to India's home season and also a platform to stake a claim in India's Test side.
Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, who was part of India's T20 World Cup winning team, will also be featuring in the tournament, making it his first red-ball assignment after coming back from that horrific car accident in 2022.
Also back in business will be another left-handed keeper Ishan Kishan, who was removed from BCCI's central contracts list after he skipped the Ranji Trophy tournament last season giving priority to cash-rich IPL.
Mohammed Siraj and Jadeja will turn up for Team B which also comprises Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Washington Sundar, while Shubman Gill will captain Team A, which consists of Kuldeep, KL Rahul, Shivam Dube and Riyan Parag among others.
Apart from Parag, Goalpara-born Akash Sengupta is the other cricketer from Assam to feature in the tournament. He is part of Team D, which will be led by Shreyas lyer with Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh as other teammates.
Duleep Trophy squads: Full list of players to feature in the tournamentTeam A: Shubman Gill (C), Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, KL Rahul, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Vidwath Kaverappa, Kumar Kushagra, Shaswat Rawat.
Also Read | Morne Morkel confirmed as India's new bowling coach, first task Bangladesh TestsTeam B: Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant, Musheer Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Siraj, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, N Jagadeesan (WK).
Team C: Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Abishek Porel (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, B Indrajith, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Umran Malik, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Anshul Khamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markande, Aryan Juyal (WK), Sandeep Warrier.
Team D: Shreyas lyer (C), Atharva Taide, Yash Dubey, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan (WK), Ricky Bhui, Saransh Jain, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Aditya Thakare, Harshit Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Sengupta, KS Bharat (WK), Saurabh Kumar.
The BCCI also added that the cricketers selected for the two-match Test series against Bangladesh, starting on September 19, will be replaced by other players.
“The athletes who will be selected to represent India for the home Test series against Bangladesh will be replaced in the Duleep Trophy,” BCCI said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the BCCI added that all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy’s participation in the Duleep Trophy is subject to fitness.
There was, however, there was no information about the availability of Mohammed Shami, who is recovering from an ankle injury.
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