Siraj, Umran, and Jadeja are out of the Duleep Trophy 2024-25. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has made significant changes to the squads ahead of the tournament, which kicks off on September 5 in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, and Bengaluru.
Fast bowlers Mohammed Siraj and Umran Malik have been ruled out of the first round due to illness. Navdeep Saini will replace Siraj in the ‘India B’ squad, while Gaurav Yadav steps in for Umran in the ‘India C’ squad. Additionally, Ravindra Jadeja has been released from the ‘India B’ team, though no specific reason was provided.
The Duleep Trophy will see a new format this year, with only four teams competing instead of the traditional six zonal teams. The tournament’s second round will overlap with India’s two-match Test series against Bangladesh, leading to further adjustments in the squads as Test players will be replaced.
Despite recovering from dengue, Umran Malik is still not fit for competitive action. His spot in the ‘India C’ team, captained by Ruturaj Gaikwad, will be taken by Madhya Pradesh pacer Gaurav Yadav, who had an outstanding Ranji Trophy season, finishing as the second-highest wicket-taker with 41 wickets at an average of 14.58.
The BCCI also mentioned that young all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy’s participation in the tournament will hinge on his fitness. The centrally contracted players are expected to participate in the first round, with the exception of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravichandran Ashwin. The absence of these star players is sure to stir up the competition as the Duleep Trophy gets underway.
Updated Squads for Duleep Trophy 2024-25
India A: Shubman Gill (c), Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel (wk), KL Rahul, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Vidwath Kaverappa, Kumar Kushagra, Shaswat Rawat
India B: Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Musheer Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, Narayan Jagadeesan (wk)
India C: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Abishek Porel (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Baba Indrajith, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Gaurav Yadav, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Anshul Khamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markande, Aryan Juyal (wk), Sandeep Warrier
India D: Shreyas Iyer (c), Atharva Taide, Yash Dubey, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Ricky Bhui, Saransh Jain, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Aditya Thakare, Harshit Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Sengupta, KS Bharat (wk), Saurabh Kumar
*subject to fitness