Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in line to play Duleep Trophy: Report

Team India are currently in the midst of an unprecedented one and a half month break from international cricket, with the side not scheduled to play any cricket till the start of the two-Test series against Bangladesh on September 19.

The extended break might just have opened the door for senior cricketers to play first class cricket again as Indian Express reports that both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are expected to feature in the forthcoming edition of the Duleep Trophy, which is scheduled to be played from September 5 in Anantapur. 

“With the Test series against Bangladesh coming up, the senior selection committee wants all the players available for the Duleep Trophy which will be played in a new format this season beginning September 5,” the report claims. 

Not only Kohli and Rohit, it is believed that other first team regulars such as Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja are all expected to feature in the competition.

Across the 2022 and 2023 editions, the Duleep Trophy was a zonal competition played between zonal teams (North, South, East, West, Central and North East), but the 2024 Duleep Trophy will be a four-team event, with the squads picked by the national selectors themselves. 

The report also adds that, with an eye on the returning seniors, one round of the competition is being planned to be played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. As it stands, the entirety of Duleep Trophy 2024 is scheduled to be played in Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh.

This development comes on the back of BCCI Secretary Jay Shah, earlier this year, emphasizing on the need for centrally contracted players to play domestic red-ball cricket.

Should this report come to fruition, it will be groundbreaking in many ways. Kohli last played a domestic red-ball game in India back in the 2012 Ranji Trophy for Delhi, against Uttar Pradesh.

Rohit, meanwhile, last played a domestic red-ball game in India back in 2016, when he represented India Blue in the Duleep Trophy.

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