The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squads for the first round of the upcoming edition of the Duleep Trophy on Wednesday, August 14. The tournament, set to commence on September 5, features four teams—Team A, Team B, Team C, and Team D—each captained by some of India’s prominent cricketers. Shubman Gill will lead Team A, Abhimanyu Easwaran will captain Team B, Ruturaj Gaikwad heads Team C, and Shreyas Iyer will be at the helm of Team D. This round-robin format competition will see each team play the others once, and the team at the top of the table after these six matches will be crowned the winner.
Among the notable players dispersed across these teams are India’s regular members Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, and Prasidh Krishna. However, some prominent players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, and Jasprit Bumrah have not been included in this edition of the competition.
The Duleep Trophy matches are scheduled to take place at Anantpur in Andhra Pradesh and at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Given the overlap with the first Test against Bangladesh in Chennai, players appearing in that Test will be replaced in the subsequent rounds of the Duleep Trophy. The BCCI has assured that the replacement players will be announced in due course.
An interesting addition to Team B is Nitish Kumar Reddy, an all-rounder from Andhra and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Reddy had missed the Zimbabwe series due to an injury but has been deemed fit enough to participate, subject to final medical clearance.
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### Squads Overview:
#### 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* (subject to fitness)
– Washington Sundar
– Ravindra Jadeja
– Mohammed 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 Iyer (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
### Tournament Format and Match Venues:
The Duleep Trophy features a round-robin format where each team will play against the other three teams once. The total of six matches will determine the winner, with the team having the highest points on the table after these games being declared the champion.
The matches will be hosted at two significant cricketing venues: Anantpur in Andhra Pradesh and M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. These locations are known for their cricketing history and infrastructure, promising exciting matches for the cricketing fraternity.
### Player Replacements Due to Bangladesh Test:
The Duleep Trophy coincides partially with India’s first Test against Bangladesh in Chennai. Consequently, players featuring in that Test will have to be replaced for the second and third round matches of the Duleep Trophy. The BCCI has ensured that these replacements will be meticulously selected and announced in a timely manner.
### Conclusion:
The Duleep Trophy has always been an important part of India’s domestic cricket calendar, providing a platform for emerging talents to perform alongside seasoned campaigners. The announcement of the squads has already stirred excitement among cricket fans and is expected to bring out high-quality, competitive cricket. As the event unfolds, all eyes will be on the performances of these squads and their captains — Shubman Gill, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Shreyas Iyer — who will aim to lead their teams to victory.
