5 batters who can't afford to perform badly in 2024 Duleep Trophy ft. Shreyas Iyer
There can't be a bigger declaration of the seriousness with which Gautam Gambhir is taking India's Test prospects than propelling a return of some of the biggest stars to play the 2024 edition of the Duleep Trophy and kick off the domestic season.
As four teams, derived from India's cream of men's cricketers, go head-to-head against each other, it won't be just to see the new young prospects who can break into the first squad and make a difference. It'll also push the established ones on their toes -- asking them to show again that they deserve a Test number.
Success in these few games would mean bigger opportunities but failure would also mean that you would be seen with a bit of a doubt whenever the next squad is picked. The competition is going to get so tight that some players simply can't afford to have a string of bad innings. Below, we have picked five such batters.
#5 Sarfaraz Khan
Sarfaraz Khan is the least likely to be harshly shoved away from the Test team in this list, thanks to the mountain of domestic runs he has scored. However, he is amid that sweet time in his career -- captaining Mumbai in the Buchi Babu Trophy, scoring 50s for India as an injury replacement -- that he can't afford to slip up.
This is his chance to show that he can not only score runs in the Ranji Trophy where each team has a couple of bowlers you can target but also against some of the best domestic bowling attacks.
Runs here would put him in serious reckoning for starting the Bangladesh and New Zealand Tests. But if he doesn't do well, it might allow the selectors to see it as a reason to play safe and keep him behind bigger names in the pecking order.
He's nearing his peak ahead of a big home season, where players could be rotated around to manage their workload. For the sake of his career, he can't but make this opportunity count.
#4 Ishan Kishan
Ishan Kishan would be under a heavy spotlight in the Duleep Trophy. He might have just taken a simple break for his mental well-being but, for whatever reasons, it didn't go well with the bosses who have stripped him out of a national contract.
This would be his first big opportunity since then and he'd want to do well. The wicketkeeper-batter would know that he'd have to do much more than others -- almost like starting from scratch where you have to stand out even among those who already stand out to be considered for selection.
Kishan would also understand that his career is at a very sensitive point. When he took the break, he was not a regular in the T20I and ODI sides either.
So, even though the Duleep Trophy is a red-ball tournament, it might also determine whether the selectors consider him good enough for white-ball tournaments too. Don't be surprised if a bad showing here makes them forget that he hit a six off his first T20I ball and has a double hundred in ODIs.
Kishan will have to tread quite carefully in this tournament.
#3 Shreyas Iyer
Shreyas Iyer would perhaps understand Kishan's situation the best. He's also out of a central contract from the same time, though has recieved opportunities in ODIs and made a statement by winning the IPL with the Kolkata Knight Riders.
That probably means that even if he struggles here, he'd have a good chance to still be around India's ODI and T20I teams. However, it might mean an end to his second life as a Test batter.
Sarfaraz already seemed to have made a stake to his place in India's Test 11 during the England series earlier in the year. And media reports also suggest that the selectors are again looking at Suryakumar Yadav across all three formats.
With Rishabh Pant returning and Dhruv Jurel still there and with KL Rahul also in the Duleep Trophy, the competition has never been more stiff for Shreyas. Even if he ignores all that, he needs runs and a lot of them to get that central contract, and with it, his respect in the eyes of the national selectors.
#2 Rajat Patidar
Rajat Patidar is in a similar boat to Shreyas, where he's a sure shot in an IPL 11 but on the fringes of the Test side due to a string of underwhelming performances. The issue for him is that he's two years older -- 31 -- and has quite a small phase of peak years left in him, which he can't afford to not make the most of.
The Rahul Dravid-led management trusted Patidar and especially his game against spin despite his poor returns against England. He can't expect a completely different management under Gambhir to show him the same love.
Gambhir would know of his exemplary skills too but as a new coach, he can't afford to pick players on just hinge. Patidar would need to show him that his poor Test run was an aberration and that he's better and more consistent than that.
He needs good performances against good bowlers to keep the door open because if Gambhir decides to move on and the incoming batters do well, the door might get shut and sealed forever.
#1 Abhimanyu Easwaran
If there was a contract for being there-and-thereabouts on the Indian men's Test side, being almost close to making an international debut every year and still not getting it, Abhimanyu Easwaran would have been the highest earner.
The lifetime Bengal man has scored more domestic runs than most players in the Duleep Trophy squads but has seen his chance slip repeatedly. He was there as an injury replacement even when Ruturaj Gaikwad got ruled out of India's Test tour of South Africa but seemed to have gone amiss for the England series soon after.
Despite his stats, Easwaran often gets questioned for a supposed lack of contributions in knock-out/important games. Although he has proven that taboo wrong many times, it's the kind of image that sticks.
This is perhaps his best chance to change it. Against the whos and whos of the domestic set-up, with the most attention on the Duleep Trophy in a long time, he needs to score those big hundreds and show that he can take the final step.
Openings don't come along often in Indian cricket but there's one in the making with Rohit Sharma, 37, almost certainly featuring in his last World Test Championship cycle.
Easwaran, 28, is one of the few good opening talents in the country who can put his hand up for that role. The BCCI has signaled as much by making him one of the captains despite Rishabh Pant being in his team.
This is the tournament where he needs to show more conviction than younger players and more maturity than his seniors. Otherwise, the sticky image would become even more difficult to let go of.