Selectors to watch Duleep Trophy Matches: The BCCI men’s selection committee will pick India’s squad for the two-match Test series against Bangladesh next week, after the conclusion of the first round of matches of the Duleep Trophy 2024.
Starting September 19 in Chennai, the Rohit Sharma-led team will be hosting Bangladesh for two Tests, with the second game slotted in Kanpur. This will mark the beginning of India’s long season, which includes five home Tests and five away Tests. After the Bangladesh series, India will host New Zealand for three Tests before flying to Australia.
There are some selection headaches for the selection panel and the management, one of which is whether to straightaway include Rishabh Pant in the playing XI or allow Dhruv Jurel to be in the side after his impressive performances in the Test series against England earlier this year in Pant’s absence.
Mohammed Shami is all but certain to miss the Bangladesh Tests, while Jasprit Bumrah might be rested, although that now seems unlikely considering Bangladesh recently defeated Pakistan in Pakistan, and India wouldn’t want to rest any of their first-choice players.
The first round of matches in the Duleep Trophy could help the selectors make their picks. The Duleep Trophy 2024 will get underway on September 5. Four teams will compete simultaneously in two venues: Bengaluru and Anantapur.
India squad vs Bangladesh Test: Selectors to watch Duleep Trophy matches before picking the squad
Barring chief selector Ajit Agarkar, the other four electors (two each) are reported to be present at the two stadiums to watch the games. After the first round of Duleep Trophy matches, all five selectors will convene and pick the India squad for the Bangladesh Test series.
The players are expected to get their training underway at Chepauk on September 12, while the Bangladesh team is reported to start training in Chennai on September 15.
Four senior Indian players are rested from the Duleep Trophy—Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Virat Kohli, and R Ashwin—while Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj pulled out after being named in the squads. Mohammed Shami is injured, and so is Ishan Kishan, who will miss at least the first match and will hence fail to make a case for a recall to the Test setup.
Apart from them, other Test players—Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Akash Deep, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Kuldeep Yadav, Sarfaraz Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Shreyas Iyer, and Rishabh Pant—will be in action from September 5.
This series is part of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25. Currently, India are on top of the WTC standings with 68.52 PCT and are well placed to make a hat-trick of WTC finals. Bangladesh have made a huge jump to the number 4 spot after the series win over Pakistan.
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