Sarfaraz Khan to juggle Duleep Trophy and India vs Bangladesh Test; Rinku Singh makes return: Report

Sarfaraz Khan is the lone player in India's 16-member squad for the first Test against Bangladesh who will not be pulled out of the Duleep Trophy squads. While the rest of the team will be attending a pre-series camp in Chennai starting September 12, Sarfaraz will be representing India B in their match against India C in the Duleep Trophy in Anantapur on the same day. This decision was confirmed by ESPNCricinfo.

Sarfaraz was part of the India B XI, which registered a 76-run victory over India A in the Duleep Trophy opener in Bengaluru. He played an enterprising knock of 46 off just 36 balls in the second innings that included seven fours and a six. He would like to add a big score to his kitty before India's home season begins with the Bangladesh Test series on September 19.

The Mumbai cricketer, who had an impressive start to his international career with three half-centuries in three Tests against England earlier this year, is unlikely to feature in India's XI in the series opener in Chennai. Sarfaraz got his Test cap in the middle of the England series due to the injury to KL Rahul, who has now regained fitness and is set to get his spot back in the XI.

The Duleep Trophy teams are set to undergo significant changes ahead of the next round of matches starting on September 12 in Anantapur. Rinku Singh, an Uttar Pradesh batter, will join the India B squad, while most Test players, excluding Sarfaraz Khan, will be withdrawn from the tournament.

Rinku Singh's exclusion from the original Duleep Trophy squads was a bit of a surprise but the left-hander will straightaway come into the XI for the second round fixture.

India A will see several players leave, including Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel, Kuldeep Yadav, and Akash Deep, making way for Pratham Singh, Akshay Wadkar, Shaik Rasheed, Shams Mulani, and Pulkit Narang.

Vidhwath Kaverappa, a fast bowler, is likely to move from India A to India D. Meanwhile, India B will lose Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, and Yash Dayal, with Suyash Prabhudesai, Himanshu Mantri, and Rinku Singh replacing them.

India C remains unaffected, but India D will lose Axar Patel and the injured Tushar Deshpande, with Kaverappa and Nishant Sindhu joining their squad.

There is no update yet on Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, and Prasidh Krishna, all of whom missed the first-round matches due to their respective injuries. However, Surya and Prasidh's recovery is on track.

India A: Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Tanush Kotian, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Kumar Kushagra, Shaswat Rawat, Pratham Singh, Akshay Wadkar, Shaik Rasheed, Shams Mulani, Pulkit Narang

India B: Abhimanyu Easwaran (capt), Sarfaraz Khan, Musheer Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, N Jagadeesan (wk), Rinku Singh, Suyash Prabhudesai, Himanshu Mantri

India C: Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Abishek Porel (wk), B Indrajith, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Gaurav Yadav, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Anshul Khamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markande, Aryan Juyal (wk), Sandeep Warrier

India D: Shreyas Iyer (capt), Atharva Taide, Yash Dubey, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (wk), Ricky Bhui, Saransh Jain, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Aditya Thakare, Harshit Rana, Akash Sengupta, KS Bharat (wk), Saurabh Kumar, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Nishant Sindhu