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Follow UsFour teams. 61 players. Over two dozen Indian internationals. The 2024 Duleep Trophy is all set to be the most blockbuster, high-profile domestic tournament hosted in India in a very long time.
However, despite the selection committee convening and zeroing-in on as many as 61 players, there is no space for one prominent name: Cheteshwar Pujara.
Another senior figure in Ajinkya Rahane did not make any of the four squads. Rahane is currently occupied with commitments in England, representing Leicestershire in the Metro Bank One Day Cup. Prithvi Shaw, another batter who has not made the Duleep Trophy squad, has also likely missed out due to the same reason.
But with Pujara not having any County commitments, and with there being no update on his fitness, it is safe to assume that the 36-year-old being left out of the Duleep Trophy altogether is a sign of India completely moving away from the veteran.
Form-wise, Pujara’s omission is very harsh. The veteran is probably currently not among the best 20 or so cricketers in the country but is certainly good enough to make a 61-person shortlist. On merit alone, that is.
Pujara has played 13 first-class games in 2024 and has amassed 1,282 runs at an average of 71.22. In 20 innings, he has five centuries — including a double ton — and his last first-class innings, which came back in May, was a century representing Sussex in division two of the County Championship.
His omission, then, seems to be a clear case of the management having made up their minds that they are moving on from him altogether regardless of what he produces at the first-class level, primarily because of his age: Pujara will be 37 in five months’ time.
The Saurashtra man is not the only senior to miss out. The four Duleep Trophy squads also don’t feature the likes of Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha.
Interestingly enough, these aforementioned players were dished out the same treatment a while back, with the selectors not going back to them once they made up their minds to move on from them. India were in a full-blown injury crisis earlier this year in the five-match Test series against England. But even then, the selectors restrained from recalling Umesh, despite his immaculate record in the subcontinent. They instead went to Akash Deep, making it clear that they are looking at the future.
Pujara could still make one of the four Duleep Trophy squads once the Indian internationals are selected for the Bangladesh Tests. But the fact that the selectors did not even pick him in a 61-person shortlist suggests that his international career might be all but over.
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