3 biggest takeaways from Round 2 of Duleep Trophy 2024 ft. Ishan Kishan's stunning comeback
The second round of the 2024 Duleep Trophy got over on Sunday, September 15, and, despite a few star players leaving for internationals, it was as interesting as the first one. While India 'A' brushed aside India 'D' with a margin of 186 runs, India 'B' and India 'C' scrambled to a good draw, which felt like the right result for the quality on display on the flat-ish track.
The India 'A' and India 'D' game, which was broadcasted live, offered a much more difficult pitch, which took square spin as well as variable bounce on the last two days. Thus, in this game, big knocks felt much more valuable, while in the other, gritty bowling spells could be seen as the true sign of quality.
If you weren't able to catch one or both games, we have listed the three major takeways across the two games below:
#3 Spinners impressing with all-round game
The biggest talking point around this Duleep Trophy has been about finding the next generation of spinners, who could potentially replace the ageing but invaluable Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in India's Test side in the near future. But the tricky part about replacing them is that you can't do it just as a spinner.
Ashwin and Jadeja have scored over 3,000 runs in Test cricket and have consistently spent time at the top of the ICC best Test all-rounders' rankings. So if you are a spinner in the Duleep Trophy, just wickets won't do -- and a lot of young players seemed to have grasped that well in this round.
In the India 'A-D' game, Mumbai's tall off-spinner Tanush Kotian was the stand-out in this regard. He is not quite like Ashwin because he bowls quick and flat deliveries and beats the batters with his pace, bounce and often-surprising turn.
He saved his team from 93/5 in the first innings with a brilliant 53 (80), took one wicket in the second innings and then rose as the best bowler on the final day with a brilliant, spell-bounding figures of 4/73. He's not your usual off-spinner but he has a brilliant batting average of 41.23 in First-Class cricket and knows how to make things happen with the ball.
Similarly, in the other game, Manav Suthar showed just why there was such a buzz about him when he picked up a five-wicket haul in the last round. Against India 'B', he got just one innings to bowl and didn't pick up a wicket because there simply wasn't much on the track for tweakers, but with the bat, he scored an extremely impressive 82 (156).
Suthar, a left-arm orthodox spinner who beats batters in the air, is considered the next big thing in Indian cricket because of his maturity and intelligence. And he is showing signs of displaying those skills via two mediums.
Because we are talking about all-rounders, special mentions also go to India 'A''s Shams Mulani, who scored a brilliant 89 (187), India 'D''s Harshit Rana and India 'C''s Anshul Kamboj. Harshit took four wickets in one innings while the latter doubled that with eight scalps against India 'B', with both hitting some big shots while batting lower down the order.
#2 Ishan Kishan all but beats Sanju Samson in back-up wicketkeeper race
Whether or not Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson, who are mostly white-ball players, are even close to India's red-ball side anymore, there indeed is a pecking order in the selectors's mind, which is why both were selected for the Duleep Trophy.
Now, after the second round, it seems that Kishan has clearly edged out Samson in that pecking order. His statement knock of 111 (126) for India 'C' in his first red-ball game of this quality since his contract termination by the BCCI, recouped the memories of why he has often been seen as an all-format player.
Samson, too, tried to play agressively. Like with spinners trying to be good all-rounders, it seems to be a pattern in Indian cricket where wicketkeepers are slowly filling the Rishabh Pant mould of agression, spin-hitting and game-changing abilities.
But a bit due to the much more difficult pitch and a bit due to a clear lack of clarity in some of his shots (which can happen due to a paucity of recent red-ball experience), Samson couldn't convert the chance. His 5 (6) and 40 (45) now could be a big nail on the coffin of his Test dreams, if there were any.
India 'D' have another game to play but after two losses, they can't win it anymore so the impact of whatever runs he might score in that game, would be much lesser to Kishan's. So far, it was Pant, KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel competing for the keeper's spot in India's Test 11 but now Kishan has also sent the message that he's still around, waiting for his chance.
#1 Ranji top run-scorers keep the heat up with big piles
If you think India's Test wicketkeeping department is stacked, just look at the batters. Despite Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma getting closer to their retirements, there are around 50 consistently well-performing domestic red-ball batters in India waiting for their chance at all times.
The second round of the Duleep Trophy saw some of those raise the heat for each other in the best way possible. Last Ranji Trophy's highest run-scorer Ricky Bhui notched a hundred, and Devdutt Padikkal, who scored three centuries in the tournament, put up a brilliant 92 for India 'D' when the second highest score in the innings for his team was 31.
Abhimanyu Easwaran and Indrajith Baba, the two men considered among closest to a Test debut in the country, showed just why, with a 157 (286) and a 78 (136) respectively, with the latter being a second half-century in as many matches. Then, there were new entrants in the ring -- Pratham Singh and Tilak Verma -- both of whom scored tons.
In Indian cricket, the only way to fulfill your dreams is to keep scoring runs, and doing it tournament after tournament, until you are better than everyone else. As of now, none of the above mentioned seem ready to give up.