Reports: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravi Ashwin to skip Duleep Trophy

Senior India cricketers Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin will skip the upcoming Duleep Trophy, slated to begin on September 5. Reports broke earlier in the day that the BCCI has asked the veterans to play the domestic tournament to get match-ready for the upcoming home series against Bangladesh and New Zealand but as per a new development, the seniors will be rested as India are slated to play 10 Test matches in five months.

Other India cricketers, such as KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal will be part of the tournament. Mohammed Shami, who’s currently at the NCA, will also be playing at least one match before joining the national squad for the Bangladesh series. He was optimistic about gaining match ready before that, and the selectors are likely to try him once before international return.

Notably, the format of the Duleep Trophy has been tweaked this season. Previously six teams — named North, South, East, West, Central and North-East used to participate in the tournament but upon recommendation from former India head coach Rahul Dravid and NCA chief VVS Laxman, they have decided to change it.

Also Read: Mohammed Shami might play Duleep Trophy to prove match fitness ahead of India return

As per ESPNcricinfo, the reason behind the move was to track a wider pool of players. Ahead of the Test season, the governing body is willing to track multiple cricketers, particularly the ones who haven’t played much red-ball cricket. The focus will be on players like Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel and Mayank Yadav, while KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer might also be tested. Ishan Kishan too is expected to feature.

BCCI selectors will meet later in the month to finalize the squad and pick captains of each team. Four teams will feature in the tournament, which will run till September 22. Each team will be playing the other three teams in the round-robin tournament, and the team with the most points will be declared as champions.