It is KSCA that will open India’s domestic season with a spicy Duleep Trophy game. This would not be the first time India ‘A’ will play a Test series at home, with six four-day red-ball games taking place beginning September 5 in Bengaluru’s iconic Chinnaswamy Stadium. While the tournament was to be hosted in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh initially, this game has now been moved over to Bengaluru.
Request from the BCCI has seen this change being made. It is rewarding for us to hold the season-opener at the Chinnaswamy Stadium,” a KSCA official said. The relocation comes in the wake of BCCI’s plan to involve top international and domestic players for this year’s edition of Duleep Trophy, which is being played with four teams as part of preparation ahead of Bangladesh series later next month.
Some of the biggest stars like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah need not play but a majority part of leading players are likely to feature in the tournament. Top intenational cricketers such as KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and others are expected to take part either full or partially while the league will also feature top domestic stars like Axar Patel,Sreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal among many others. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been allowed to choose.
Quite a few big names such as Hardik Pandya who has retired from red-ball cricket will be absent from the roster. Ishan Kishan, who’s been missing out on international assignments, though the other player could join one of these four teams. Jasprit Bumrah and likely Mohammed Shami (recovering from surgery) will be kept out of domestic duties.
It has been a combined decision of BCCI, selectors and the newly-appointed coach Gautam Gambhir. The Indian team management exempted Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to manage their workload. So, while Rohit last played a state game in 2021, Kohli has not featured for North Zone since the year their captain made his international debut.
Bringing in international players to domestic matches is among the avenues that BCCI could take, as part of its resolve not just about playing more day/night Tests but also getting top stars showing up for crucial Ranji ties. As a part of this policy, Iyer and Ishan were left out from the central contract list last year as well.
After the Heritage Cup, a four-team Duleep Trophy will be played for which there are no knockout games.The league stage of that tournament ends on September 22.