Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar argued that India Check captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and pacer Jasprit Bumrah may have featured within the season-opening Duleep Trophy.
India will head into a protracted season of red-ball cricket with 10 Checks, beginning September 19. They’ll host Bangladesh and New Zealand for 5 Checks earlier than gearing up for a historic five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour to Australia in November.
Nevertheless, Rohit and Kohli will head into the Check season with restricted red-ball recreation time, having opted to skip the primary spherical of the Duleep Trophy that begins on September 5 in Bengaluru and Anantapur.
Rohit led India of their 4-1 Check collection win in opposition to England in early March whereas Kohli final featured in a Check in South Africa in January. In the meantime, Bumrah has been given an prolonged break since India’s T20 World Cup win and skipped the next Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka excursions.
India has performed 249 worldwide matches within the final 5 years. Rohit has performed solely 59% of these. Virat 61 % & Bumrah 34%. I see them as properly rested India gamers. May have been chosen for the Duleep trophy.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) August 28, 2024
India’s batting in opposition to spin got here beneath the scanner within the Sri Lanka ODIs after struggling their first defeat in opposition to the hosts in 27 years. The Males in Blue misplaced 28 of their 30 wickets within the collection to tweakers.
“India has performed 249 worldwide matches (since Aug 1, 2019) within the final 5 years. Rohit has performed solely 59% of these. Virat 61 % & Bumrah 34%. I see them as properly rested India gamers. May have been chosen for the Duleep trophy,” Manjrekar reasoned as he wrote on X.
Whereas Bumrah can also skip the Bangladesh collection, Rohit and Kohli shall be integral to construct India’s World Check Championship standings earlier than the Australia tour.
India are slated to play 15 Checks by August 2025, excluding the WTC last. Barring Rohit and Kohli, a number of India’s first-choice Check gamers are slated to characteristic within the Duleep Trophy, representing 4 groups.
Quick bowler Mohammed Siraj and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja had been omitted from the primary spherical of the event on Tuesday.