New Delhi: When Duleep Trophy The matches, starting in Bengaluru and Anantapur on Thursday, will serve as the start of an important Test season, while the national selectors will be keenly watching Rishabh PantAfter the red-ball return, they will also look for good backup options for the frontline stars.
Pant has not featured in a match for a long stretch since returning to white-ball events after that horrific car accident. According to PTI, he played his last red-ball match in December 2022 against Bangladesh.
Now he will play for Team B captained by Abhimanyu Easwaran against Team A. Shubman GillAt the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Though his performances in the shorter formats were satisfactory, he faced a different kind of challenge in the four-day competition: batting and fielding for an arbitrary number of overs.
Pant is Team B’s chosen wicketkeeper and it is evident that the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee plans to closely examine his potential as a wicketkeeper-batsman during the season that concludes with the World Test Championship final at Lord’s in June.
However, this is only a small part of the issue, as there are other deserving candidates for the wicketkeeper-batsman position.
Dhruv Jurel (Team A) is the clear leader after a brilliant debut series against England earlier this year.
Then there is Ishan Kishan, who will represent Team D under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer in Anantapur.
Kishan might not have been in the team for a long time but he would want to use the Duleep Trophy as a springboard to make a comeback into India. BCCI Central contract for the current cycle.
The Giants return with Gill at No.3 Virat Kohli And Rohit Sharma Two batting spots will be vacant for the Bangladesh series.
As a result, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Sarfaraz Khan – who stunned everyone with a brilliant Test debut against England – will compete to take the vacant spot in the middle order.
Rahul, who is a pure batsman for Team A, and Shreyas will have to do well in the Duleep Trophy as they were absent from a significant part of the home matches against England with the former injured and Shreyas ruled out in the second Test in Visakhapatnam.
Bowling back-up
For some time now, India has benefited greatly from the combination of these two. Jasprit BumrahMohammed Siraj, and mohammed shami In Test cricket; however, going into a long season without enough backup options is not a good thing.
Especially considering that Shami, whose most recent competitive appearance was in the 2023 50-over World Cup final, is still recovering from surgery, while Siraj is unwell and will miss the first round of the Duleep Trophy.
Bengal’s Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep, who made impressive debuts in the traditional format, along with Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Vidwath Kavarappa, Vaisakh Vijaykumar and Harshit Rana will be under the selectors’ radar.
While the spin department scenario is a bit different, the fast bowling department still needs some serious solutions.
Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, who were dropped from Team B, and ravichandran ashwin Formation of a potent Indian spin unit.
Although there isn’t an immediate need for supporting cast members, selectors want to be prepared with an immediate supply in case something unexpected happens.
In this regard, spinners like Saurabh Kumar, Washington Sundar, who is also a good batsman, and R Sai Kishore, who took the most wickets with 53 in the last Ranji season, will be in the eyes of these five intelligent players.
Black horses
Several peripheral players have shown potential at various levels and would like to extend their careers even further.
Karnataka’s Devdutt Padikkal had a stellar Ranji season in 2023-24, which earned him a Test debut against England in Dharamsala.
Tamil Nadu’s Baba Indrajith, a consistent performer in the local area, once again showcased his talent by scoring 767 runs in the recent Ranji season. Sarfaraz’s younger brother Mushir Khan progressed to first-class cricket for Mumbai after dominating the Under-19 circuit.
Tamil Nadu’s B Sai Sudharsan, who scored a century for Surrey in English county cricket, has made his white-ball debut for India and has also shown his readiness for red-ball cricket. He will compete for Ruturaj Gaikwad’s Team C.
Teams:
India A: Shubman Gill (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), KL Rahul, Tilak Verma, Shivam Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Khalil Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Vidwath Kaverappa, Kumar Kushagra, Shaswat Rawat
India B: Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Mushir Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy (subject to fitness), Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, N Jagadeesan (wk)
India C: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Sai Sudarshan, Rajat Patidar, Abhishek Porel (wicketkeeper), Suryakumar YadavB Indrajit, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Gaurav Yadav, Vishal Vijaykumar, Anshul Khamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markande, Aryan Juyal (wicketkeeper), Sandeep Warrier
India D: Shreyas Lyer (captain), Atharva Tayde, Yash Dubey, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Ricky Bhui, Saransh Jain, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Aditya Thackeray, Harshit Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Sengupta, KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Saurabh Kumar
Pant has not featured in a match for a long stretch since returning to white-ball events after that horrific car accident. According to PTI, he played his last red-ball match in December 2022 against Bangladesh.
Now he will play for Team B captained by Abhimanyu Easwaran against Team A. Shubman GillAt the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Though his performances in the shorter formats were satisfactory, he faced a different kind of challenge in the four-day competition: batting and fielding for an arbitrary number of overs.
Pant is Team B’s chosen wicketkeeper and it is evident that the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee plans to closely examine his potential as a wicketkeeper-batsman during the season that concludes with the World Test Championship final at Lord’s in June.
However, this is only a small part of the issue, as there are other deserving candidates for the wicketkeeper-batsman position.
Dhruv Jurel (Team A) is the clear leader after a brilliant debut series against England earlier this year.
Then there is Ishan Kishan, who will represent Team D under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer in Anantapur.
Kishan might not have been in the team for a long time but he would want to use the Duleep Trophy as a springboard to make a comeback into India. BCCI Central contract for the current cycle.
The Giants return with Gill at No.3 Virat Kohli And Rohit Sharma Two batting spots will be vacant for the Bangladesh series.
As a result, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Sarfaraz Khan – who stunned everyone with a brilliant Test debut against England – will compete to take the vacant spot in the middle order.
Rahul, who is a pure batsman for Team A, and Shreyas will have to do well in the Duleep Trophy as they were absent from a significant part of the home matches against England with the former injured and Shreyas ruled out in the second Test in Visakhapatnam.
Bowling back-up
For some time now, India has benefited greatly from the combination of these two. Jasprit BumrahMohammed Siraj, and mohammed shami In Test cricket; however, going into a long season without enough backup options is not a good thing.
Especially considering that Shami, whose most recent competitive appearance was in the 2023 50-over World Cup final, is still recovering from surgery, while Siraj is unwell and will miss the first round of the Duleep Trophy.
Bengal’s Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep, who made impressive debuts in the traditional format, along with Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Vidwath Kavarappa, Vaisakh Vijaykumar and Harshit Rana will be under the selectors’ radar.
While the spin department scenario is a bit different, the fast bowling department still needs some serious solutions.
Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, who were dropped from Team B, and ravichandran ashwin Formation of a potent Indian spin unit.
Although there isn’t an immediate need for supporting cast members, selectors want to be prepared with an immediate supply in case something unexpected happens.
In this regard, spinners like Saurabh Kumar, Washington Sundar, who is also a good batsman, and R Sai Kishore, who took the most wickets with 53 in the last Ranji season, will be in the eyes of these five intelligent players.
Black horses
Several peripheral players have shown potential at various levels and would like to extend their careers even further.
Karnataka’s Devdutt Padikkal had a stellar Ranji season in 2023-24, which earned him a Test debut against England in Dharamsala.
Tamil Nadu’s Baba Indrajith, a consistent performer in the local area, once again showcased his talent by scoring 767 runs in the recent Ranji season. Sarfaraz’s younger brother Mushir Khan progressed to first-class cricket for Mumbai after dominating the Under-19 circuit.
Tamil Nadu’s B Sai Sudharsan, who scored a century for Surrey in English county cricket, has made his white-ball debut for India and has also shown his readiness for red-ball cricket. He will compete for Ruturaj Gaikwad’s Team C.
Teams:
India A: Shubman Gill (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), KL Rahul, Tilak Verma, Shivam Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Khalil Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Vidwath Kaverappa, Kumar Kushagra, Shaswat Rawat
India B: Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Mushir Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy (subject to fitness), Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, N Jagadeesan (wk)
India C: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Sai Sudarshan, Rajat Patidar, Abhishek Porel (wicketkeeper), Suryakumar YadavB Indrajit, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Gaurav Yadav, Vishal Vijaykumar, Anshul Khamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markande, Aryan Juyal (wicketkeeper), Sandeep Warrier
India D: Shreyas Lyer (captain), Atharva Tayde, Yash Dubey, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Ricky Bhui, Saransh Jain, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Aditya Thackeray, Harshit Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Sengupta, KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Saurabh Kumar
