Duleep Trophy: Lack of upcoming pacers, seam bowling all-rounders to the fore as selectors announce squads for season opener

With the Duleep Trophy moving away from the zonal format, the national selectors have selected a horde of international stars for the red-ball tournament that will open the 2024-25 domestic season next month.

BCCI secretary Jay Shah announced four squads on Wednesday – India A, India B, India C and India D – for the first round packed with Test regulars except Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah and the injured Mohammad Shami.

While India’s immediate focus will be on the five home Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand, the team management will also have an eye on seam-bowling and batting back-ups for the five-Test tour to Australia starting in November.

However, the pointers from the chosen squads do not reflect well on the domestic performers from previous seasons. Instead, the selectors remain keen to continue banking on players with international experience and IPL exposure for the red-ball set-up.

Only 26 of the 61 chosen players are uncapped, 15 of them being bowlers.

Some of the issues that come to the fore are:

Lack of seam-bowling all-rounders

Given the lack of solid options and Hardik Pandya’s aversion to playing the longest format, Shivam Dube finds himself among the prominent all-rounders in the squads. Dube, however, enjoyed success on his red-ball return for Mumbai last season after nearly four years. He scored over 400 runs and picked up 12 wickets with his gentle medium pace. Andhra youngster Nitish Kumar Reddy is the only other prominent fast-bowling all-rounder in the list. Recovering from an injury, Nitish’s availability is subject to fitness.

Nitish Kumar Reddy of Sunrisers Hyderabad play a shot during match 23 of the Indian Premier League season 17 (IPL 2024) between Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad held at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur on the 9th April 2024. (Photo by Arjun Singh / Sportzpics for IPL)

Medium-pacers aplenty

Ten uncapped players make up the seam-bowling category for the first round of matches. While the frontline pacers are Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Mohammed Siraj and Khaleel Ahmed, the new faces largely fall into the medium-pace category, underlining a big concern about the next crop.

Among them, Karnataka seamer Vidwath Kaverappa stands out after an impressive start to his First-Class career, having already amassed 80 wickets from 20 matches. Kaverappa was part of the India A sides that played South Africa A and England Lions in early 2024, scalping four wickets from three outings.

Mumbai seamer Mohit Awasthi, who picked up 35 wickets during their run to the Ranji Trophy title earlier this year has been named in the India B side. While he missed out on the final, the medium-pacer recorded two seven-wicket hauls during the 2023-24 Ranji season.

Not all selections were based on recent First-Class form ahead of the Australia tour. While left-arm seamer Yash Dayal only registered 14 wickets in the previous Ranji Trophy season, Delhi seamer Harshit Rana has not featured in any red-ball fixture since the last Duleep Trophy. The same also applies to Assam’s Akash Sengupta, who has only gathered 12 wickets from 13 First-Class innings, averaging over 66 with the ball.

Delhi quick Himanshu Chauhan, who returned 30 wickets in his maiden Ranji Trophy season earlier this year, Karnataka’s Vyshak Vijaykumar and Vidarbha’s Aditya Thakare round up the other picks.

Spin all-rounders on the rise

With an eye on nurturing back-ups for India’s ageing spin duo of Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, the selectors have roped in four spin-bowling all-rounders among the newer options. Mumbai’s Tanush Kotian, who recorded 29 wickets and 502 runs including a career-best 120 not out batting at no. 10 in the Ranji Trophy, has been named in the India A side.

Rajasthan’s Manav Suthar has also entered the fray after consistent runs across two domestic seasons. The 23-year-old picked up 55 wickets in 11 Ranji matches across the last two seasons. Suthar also impressed in India A colours against the England Lions in Ahmedabad in January. The left-arm spinner bagged eight wickets in two innings and hit an unbeaten 89 during a 490-run chase in that game.

Mumbai’s Tanush Kotian, who recorded 29 wickets and 502 runs including a career-best 120 not out batting at no. 10 in the Ranji Trophy, has been named in the India A side. (PTI)

Off-spinners Saransh Jain and Hrithik Shokeen have also joined a long queue that includes the likes of R Sai Kishore, Saurabh Kumar, Washington Sundar and leggies Rahul Chahar and Mayank Markande.

Fresh guard with the bat

The selectors have opted for a change of approach on the batting front, calling up youngsters who have recorded more than 500 runs in the last Ranji season while pushing out bigger names.

Baroda’s Shashwat Rawat cracked four centuries in the Ranji Trophy last season, including one in the quarter-final against eventual champions Mumbai. The 23-year-old left-hander will join Jharkhand wicketkeeper Kumar Kushagra in an India A side comprising Shubman Gill and KL Rahul. Mumbai sensation Musheer Khan, who notched up a double hundred on his Ranji debut and smashed a century in the final against Vidarbha, also finds himself in the running.

Madhya Pradesh’s Yash Dubey, Uttar Pradesh wicketkeeper Aryan Juyal, Atharve Taide (Vidarbha) and Bengal’s Abishek Porel are the other young batters to receive a nod.

SKY in the mix, heavyweights out

Despite a lacklustre start to his Test career, 33-year-old Suryakumar Yadav finds himself back on the selectors’ radar. However, his T20I teammate Rinku Singh failed to grab a spot despite averaging nearly 60 in his First-Class career with Uttar Pradesh. While Suryakumar holds on, a series of domestic heavyweights in Jaydev Unadkat, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shardul Thakur and Prithvi Shaw have been forced out from the reckoning ahead of India’s upcoming 10-Test window.

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Duleep Trophy: Fresh faces

Batters, WKs: Kumar Kushagra (wk), Shaswat Rawat, Musheer Khan, N Jagadeesan (wk), Abishek Porel (wk), Baba Indrajith, Aryan Juyal (wk), Atharva Taide, Yash Dubey, Ricky Bhui (wk).

Pacers: Vidwath Kaverappa, Mohit Awasthi, Yash Dayal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Anshul Khamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Harshit Rana, Aditya Thakare, Akash Sengupta.

Spinners: Tanush Kotian, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Saransh Jain.

Notable exclusions: Jaydev Unadkat, Shams Mulani, Hanuma Vihari, Rinku Singh, Cheteshwar Pujara, Prithvi Shaw, Navdeep Saini, Pradosh Paul, Akshay Wadkar.

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