Later this week the Indian selectors will meet for an important team selection. The Duleep Trophy which used to be a zonal competition involving six key zones under BCCI, is now going to be played between four teams selected by the selectors to increase competitiveness. These 4 teams simply called as Team A, Team B, Team C and Team D will include around 60 players and will be great opportunity for the team management to test the form and fitness of the player pool before a long season. India is going to play 10 Test matches in next 5 months which will include five home Test matches and five Test matches in Australia and the selectors know that they need a strong set of players with varying skillset available keeping in mind form and fitness issues.
Fight for top-order batting spots
Although the four seniormost players Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah will not be participating in this tournament, there will be a host of key players who will look to start the new season in a strong note. Among those Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Sarfaraz Khan, Devdutt Padikkal and Suryakumar Yadav will look to stake claim on the top order batting roles. Jaiswal had a record-breaking series against England but his real test will be in Australia and if he can establish himself like Gill did during the last tour, that would be great news for Indian cricket. For Shubman Gill also it will be an important season. With the aged stars gradually walking off it will be important for him to show that he is ready to take the responsibility. He will also be expecting to lead one of the sides as the team management is very keen to prepare him for a permanent leadership role in near future.
There will be a return of KL Rahul who played only one out of the five Tests against England before getting injured. Rahul did return to India team in the Sri Lanka tour but failed to deliver any significant performance and with lots of youngsters coming fast he will look to play at least couple of significant innings. A very similar story will be there for Shreyas Iyer who also needs to prove his white ball form and temperament.
Will Rishabh Pant Return in Red ball?
It will be interested to see who will be the four primary wicket-keepers for these teams. There is a strong chance that Rishabh Pant will make his return to red ball cricket after his accident in late 2022. Dhruv Jurel was a start during his debut series against England. There is an update that Ishan Kishan is returning to play for Jharkhand in the Buchibabu Trophy and will hope to be selected. There are also young domestic wicket keepers like Upendra Yadav from UP or the IPL stars like Sanju Samson, Abhishek Porel and Jiten Sharma who will also hope to show their skill both in front and behind the wickets.
Fight for the Spin all-rounder spot
Ravindra Jadeja is the still the key all-rounder for India but after his retirement from T20 Internationals, the selectors will look to plan for a smooth transition in test cricket also. There are candidates like Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Shahbaz Nadeem who will like to deliver and hope to get a third spinner spot in some of the home test matches.
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Focus on ready back up for bowlers
Among the fast bowlers, the most exciting question is whether Mohammad Shami can make a return after his rehabilitation is complete. Shami, who had an astonishing World Cup in 2023 including a 7-wicket haul against New Zealand in the Semi-final is out of cricket since then. He had a successful surgery and expected to be picked for India’s touring party to Australia. However, the selectors will hope to play few matches including 1-2 Test matches before that to get back his full physical and match fitness. Among the others, Mohammad Siraj is the designated third seamer of the national team but the players like Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan and Shardul Thakur will look to fight for that spot. Also based on the experience from India’s last Australia tour, if the injuries hit again this time, a strong list of back up pacers who are ready and in-form would be handy.
For spin bowling, India already had enough options including Kuldeep Yadav who is regular now. Saurabh Kumar, who got his first India call up earlier this year but yet to make his international debut, is a premier bowler in recent Ranji sessions and will look to deliver a strong performance against India’s international batters. There will be also youngsters like Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakravarthy and Sai Kishore who will be eager to show their red ball skills after successful seasons in IPL.
These three matches are the perfect season opener for India which will be immediately followed by two Tests against Bangladesh. It will be interesting to see which young and experienced players can catch selectors’ eye with their dazzling performances.
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