The 2024-25 domestic Indian cricket season started with the first round of the Duleep Trophy matches. India is going to play 10 Test matches in next 5 months which will include 5 home and 5 away Test matches. Although the selectors has already announced the squad for the first Test against Bangladesh but with 9 more Test matches to go which included three Test matches against New Zealand and five Test matches against Australia down under. This is why the selectors would like to have a group of 20-25 players from which they can select players as per the requirements of the conditions. This is why these Duleep Trophy matches hold special significance and consistent performance in these matches can open the national team door for some of the young players.
If we look at the results of the round1 matches, India-B and India-C are the triumphant teams. Both the matches were relatively low scoring as India-B beat India-A thanks to majestic century by Musheer Khan in the first innings. For India-A, Akash Deep was the peak of the bowlers with 9 wickets in the match for just 116 runs.
In the other match, India-C won thanks to Manav Suthar’s 8 wickets in the match including the impressive 7/49 in India-D’s second innings. For India-D, Axar Patel impressed the most with his all-round display.
Musheer’s heroics is the biggest story of this round. The Under-19 World Cup star showed that he is very close to be ready for the India cap and can join his brother Sarfaraz Khan in the India set up any time soon. Coming to bat after the fall of the first wicket, Musheer was in the non-striker end when India-B collapsed to 94/7. This is when he got an able partner in Navdeep Saini and despite his young age, he kept his cool to guide his senior partner. His hundred came of 205 deliveries with 10 fours and 2 sixes as he looked to rebuild in day one. Eventually he scored a massive 181 runs with 16 fours and five huge sixes. The partnership of 205 runs with Saini was broken when Musheer was finally dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav. Despite a duck in the second innings Musheer was the standout performance for India-B who fittingly finished the match with a run out.
Akash deep swung the ball both in the air and after hitting the pitch and delivered an impressive performance. His spell in the first innings was responsible for India-B’s collapse in the first innings when he dismissed Rishabh Pant and Nitish Kumar Reddy off consecutive deliveries and also ran out Washington Sundar. He then toiled hard and returned to pick up two more wickets to close the innings. In India-B’s second innings he did even better and picked up a five wicket haul including the first innings centurion Musheer for a duck. Akash Deep got a called up for the first Test against Bangladesh and can start if India opted to play three pacers.
The other notable performances in this match came from Rishabh Pant (61 off 47 in second innings), Navdeep Saini (56 in the first innings and 5 wickets in the match) and KL Rahul (37 and 57 in two innings).
Left arm spinner Manav Suthar is the star in the second match. He picked up only 1 wicket in the India-D’s first innings as they collapsed very early. But in their second innings Suthar bowled 19.1 overs to pick up 7 wickets for 49 runs. In fact, he picked up all of the last 7 wickets fall for the India-D team. He may not be an immediate choice for the national team but if he can continue this performance through out the season a callup may come in right opportunity.
However, his senior left arm spinner Axar Patel continued his good form from the T20 World Cup. His 86 played a key role for India-D in their first innings and without that they could have bundled out to a below-100 score. After his 86, the second highest score for India-D in that innings was 13, scored by three different players. Axar scored another 28 in the second innings and picked up 3 wickets in the match. He may not immediately replace Ravindra Jadeja but would be first choice if India goes with three spinners against Bangladesh.
Among others, Harshith Rana and Saransh Jain impressed with their 4-wicket hauls in the first and second innings for India-D respectively. Shreyas Iyer, Devdutt Padikkal and Ruturaj Gaikwad all got start in one innings but failed to reach the three-digit mark.
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