Rishabh Pant is all set to make a comeback to red-ball cricket for the 2024-25 Duleep Trophy, as the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee has named the teams for the first round of the tournament. This is Pant’s first appearance in first-class cricket since his car accident in December 2022.
Mohammed Shami, however, is not part of the four teams. He is nearing full fitness and has resumed full swing as he looks to make a comeback in time for the two-match home series against Bangladesh from September 19. Shami is expected to continue training under the watch of the NCA in Bengaluru.
As reported by ESPNcricinfo, Test captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah have been given extended rest ahead of India’s domestic season.
Fast bowler Prasidh Krishna, whose last competitive game was in January 2024, will make a comeback after a long layoff. He is in the final stages of recovery from a quadriceps tendon injury, which he underwent surgery for in February. Prasidh will miss the Maharaja T20 Trophy, Karnataka’s domestic T20 tournament, to complete his recovery ahead of the first round of the Duleep Trophy matches being played simultaneously in Anantapur and Bengaluru from September 5.
Top-order batsman Tilak Varma, who suffered a wrist injury late in IPL 2024, has also been nominated for the Duleep Trophy. He was not selected in the Indian squad that played five T20Is in Zimbabwe in July due to injury.
The selection panel has rewarded the home form, an example being the inclusion of Mumbai allrounder Musheer Khan. The 19-year-old had a breakout year when he was part of India’s under-19 World Cup squad and Mumbai’s victorious Ranji Trophy campaign.
Musheer, who scored two hundreds in the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy and a match-winning hundred in the final, will play with his elder brother and India batsman Sarfaraz Khan, who is one of the hotshots in India’s Test order. .
Allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has been included under eligibility. He is recovering from a sports hernia operation in June, after being left out of India’s T20I squad for Zimbabwe.
Initially a zonal competition comprising teams from six regions – North, South, East, West, Central and North-East – the Duleep Trophy will have only four teams this time, called Team A, Team B, Team C and Team D. The players will be selected for the series of Bangladesh will be replaced in the Duleep Trophy.
Duleep Trophy 2024-25 squads (first round)
Team A: Shubman Gill (capt), Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel (wk), KL Rahul, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Kudwamar Kaverappa Kushagra, Shaswat Rawat.
Team B: Abhimanyu Easwaran (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Musheer Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy (subject to fitness), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Siraj, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, N Jagadeesan (wk)
Team C: Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Abishek Porel (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, B Indrajith, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Umran Malik, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Anshul Khamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markalnde ), Sandeep Warrier
Team D: Shreyas Iyer (capt), Atharva Taide, Yash Dubey, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Ricky Bhui, Saransh Jain, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Aditya Thakare, Harshit Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Senguptaw, KS Bhat ). Saurabh Kumar
