Indian star cricketers likely to play Duleep Trophy, first round in Bengaluru

Senior batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma also might get an exemption, and the choice of appearing in the tournament is entirely on them

Bengaluru: With some of the India regulars, except pacer Jasprit Bumrah and senior spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, likely to appear in the first round of the Duleep Trophy, the BCCI has decided to shift one of the opening matches from Anantapur to Bengaluru.

Senior batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma also might get an exemption, and the choice of appearing in the tournament is entirely on them. The Duleep Trophy was earlier scheduled to kick-off with two sets of first round matches at Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh from September 5, but now one of those games has been shifted to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here to reduce the logistical inconveniences.

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Anantapur is approximately 230 km away from Bengaluru and the city is not connected via flight. “The decision has been made to accommodate some of the top players, so that they get a feel of the red-ball cricket ahead of the (Test) series against Bangladesh,” a source close to the development said.

India are slated to play two Test matches against Bangladesh – from September 19 at Chennai and from September 27 at Kanpur. While it is up to Rohit and Kohli to play in the event, some other prominent players such as Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer Kuldeep Yadav etc are expected to be available for this tournament fully or partially.

However, Bumrah and Ashwin are unlikely to take part in the tournament at any stage as they are expected to join the India squad directly ahead of the Bangladesh series. The selectors are also deciding on giving a go to Rishabh Pant in the Duleep Trophy, and if it happens then this will be his first red-ball assignment after coming back from that horrific car accident in 2022.

Since his return, Pant has been a part of India’s white-ball set-up and the wicketkeeper batter also donned the national jersey in the T20 World Cup. Mohammed Shami, who has been recuperating from a surgery, will not feature in the tournament.

However, the availability of the top players will also be subject to the dates of the preparatory camp that the team management is mulling to hold in Chennai ahead of the Tests against Bangladesh. But the decision to shift the match also align with the shared vision of the BCCI and the team management that the top players should feature in domestic cricket competitions whenever they are free from national duty.

It may be recalled that India’s T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav (Mumbai) and out-of-favour wicketkeeper batsman Ishan Kishan (Jharkhand) have made themselves available to play the Buchi Babu Trophy, starting from August 15.