Former India cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has recently stirred controversy by criticizing the absence of prominent Indian players—Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah—from the upcoming Duleep Trophy. In his critique, Manjrekar highlighted that despite India having played a substantial 249 international matches over the past five years, these players have had relatively limited game time: Rohit Sharma has participated in only 59% of those matches, Virat Kohli in 61%, and Jasprit Bumrah in just 34%. He argued that with the players having had ample rest, participating in the Duleep Trophy could have been beneficial for them to gain match practice ahead of the Bangladesh Test series.
The Duleep Trophy, which is set to commence on September 5, 2024, at the Anantapur and Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium, is a prestigious domestic tournament that often serves as a key platform for players to showcase their form and prepare for international cricket. Despite some notable players such as Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, and Shubman Gill participating in the tournament, the absence of Kohli, Rohit, and Bumrah has raised questions about the adequacy of the team’s preparation for the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh.
Adding weight to Manjrekar’s argument, cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar, in his column for mid-day, concurred that Kohli and Rohit, being in their 30s, could have benefitted from participating in the Duleep Trophy. Gavaskar noted that playing in the tournament could have helped them sharpen their skills and maintain mental sharpness. While Gavaskar acknowledged the need for Bumrah to rest given his recent injury concerns, he emphasized that the experienced batters could have utilized the domestic games to enhance their red-ball form.
The Duleep Trophy will see the following team compositions:
Team A: Shubman Gill (Captain), 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 (Captain), 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 (Wicketkeeper).
Team C: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Abishek Porel (Wicketkeeper), Suryakumar Yadav, B Indrajith, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Umran Malik, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Anshul Khamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markande, Aryan Juyal (Wicketkeeper), Sandeep Warrier.
Team D: Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Atharva Taide, Yash Dubey, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan (Wicketkeeper), Ricky Bhui, Saransh Jain, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Aditya Thakare, Harshit Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Sengupta, KS Bharat (Wicketkeeper), Saurabh Kumar.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s most recent appearance was in India’s disappointing ODI series defeat against Sri Lanka, a series that marked a significant setback for the team under new head coach Gautam Gambhir. The Indian team is slated to play two Test matches against Bangladesh, with the first starting on September 19 in Chennai and the second on September 27 in Kanpur. The debate surrounding the Duleep Trophy highlights ongoing discussions about the role of domestic cricket in preparing players for international challenges and the balance between rest and competitive play for elite athletes.
