3 things to look forward to in first round of Duleep Trophy 2024 ft. Rishabh Pant's return to red-ball cricket
The Duleep Trophy 2024 gets underway on Thursday, September 5 when Team A take on Team B at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, while Team B and Team D face off against each other in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh.
While teams A and B are led by Shubman Gill and Abhimanyu Easwaran respectively, C will be led by Ruturaj Gaikwad and D by out-of-favour India batter Shreyas Iyer.
Apart from a few seniors, all India regulars have been asked to play in this red-ball tournament that kicks off the domestic calendar for the BCCI, ahead of the one-game Irani Trophy and the prestigious Ranji Trophy, slated to start on October 11.
With home series against Bangladesh and New Zealand coming up, the players participating in the Duleep Trophy will be keen on making a mark for themselves and putting their hands up for selection.
In this listicle, we take a look at three things to look forward to in the first round of the Duleep Trophy:
Three things to look out for in the Duleep Trophy first round
#1 Return of Rishabh Pant to red-ball cricket
Rishabh Pant, who made a miraculous recovery from a near-fatal road accident in December 2022 came back to play for India at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in June earlier this year. He will play for Team B.
Pant will be expected to put up a good showing against the red ball with the bat in hand as well as hold his own with the big gloves behind the stumps. He last played a red-ball game in Mirpur in December 2022.
The swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batter will bat in the middle order for Team B, coming in after Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sarfaraz Khan.
#2 Shreyas Iyer's captaincy
Another thing to be on the lookout for in this tournament is the way Shreyas Iyer leads Team D. The Mumbai batter has generally been out of favour with the selectors but made a comeback into the ODI team in Sri Lanka recently.
Iyer is known to be a shrewd thinker of the game, which allows him to exploit options that are invariably seen as closed by conservatives. His out-of-the-box approach to both batting and captaincy has often reaped rich dividends.
Having led Kolkata Knight Riders to their third IPL title earlier this year, Iyer is high on confidence and will be keen on adding the Duleep Trophy to his list of his achievements as well.
#3 Arshdeep Singh's accuracy
Arshdeep Singh, who will represent Team D in the tournament, will hope to pick up early wickets with the new ball. The left-arm seamer has played just 16 first-class games and is considered a white-ball specialist.
The 26-year-old, who is tipped to make the Indian team for the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh at home, will want to make the most of the opportunities he gets to impress the selectors in the Duleep Trophy.
Arshdeep will be backed to the hilt by his skipper Shreyas Iyer, who will rotate him alongside the likes of Tushar Deshpande, Harshit Rana and Aditya Thakare. He has played 54 T20Is for India.