(BCCI Photo)
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were notably absent from the squad announcements for the first round of the Duleep Trophy 2024-25. This tournament, which signals the start of the domestic red-ball cricket season, will see Rishabh Pant return to first-class cricket following his recovery from a car accident in 2022.
The updated format of the red-ball competition kicks off on September 5 in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, and at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The tournament will feature four teams—India A, India B, India C, and India D—with Shubman Gill, Abhimanyu Eswaran, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Shreyas Iyer appointed as captains for their respective sides.
Team 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.
Team 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.
Players chosen to represent India in the upcoming home Test series against Bangladesh will be substituted in the Duleep Trophy. Additionally, Nitish Kumar Reddy’s participation in the Duleep Trophy will depend on his fitness.
Since its inception in 1961-62, the Duleep Trophy has evolved significantly. Initially a six-team competition representing different zones, it has now been streamlined into a four-team format featuring India A, India B, India C, and India D.
The tournament will follow a round-robin structure, with the team that finishes at the top of the standings after three rounds being declared the winner.
