DTVHINDI
Senior Indian cricketers Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin will not be participating in the upcoming Duleep Trophy, which begins on September 5. Reports came in this morning that the BCCI has asked the veterans to play in domestic tournaments to prepare for the upcoming series. India are scheduled to play Test series against Bangladesh and New Zealand on home pitches in the coming days.
According to new media reports Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin They might be rested from the Duleep Trophy as these players have 10 Test matches to play in the next 5 months. Other Indian cricketers like KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal will be part of the tournament. Mohammed Shami, who is currently at the NCA, will play at least one match before joining the national team for the Bangladesh series.
Notably, the format of the Duleep Trophy has been changed this season. Earlier, six teams named North, South, East, West, Central and North-East used to participate in the tournament but on the recommendation of former India head coach Rahul Dravid and NCA head VVS Laxman, they have decided to change it.
Some big players of Team India will play Duleep Trophy
According to a report in ESPNcricinfo, the reason behind the move was to track a wider pool of players. Ahead of the Test season, the governing body is set to monitor several cricketers, especially those who haven’t played much red-ball cricket. The main focus will be on the likes of Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel and Mayank Yadav, while KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer could also be tested. Ishan Kishan is also expected to be included.
The BCCI selectors will meet at the end of the month to finalise the squads and pick the captains of each team. Four teams will participate in the tournament, which will run till September 22. Each team will play the other three teams in a round-robin tournament and the team with the most points will be declared the champion.
