Team India will engage in two Test series before travelling to Australia for the much anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which will be played towards the end of the year. As there is still some time left for it, players will look to make their case stronger for a flight to Down Under with good performances in the two red ball series, starting with two Tests against Bangladesh, scheduled to be played next month. It'll be followed with a three-match series against New Zealand, which is slated for October. But ahead of the international assignments, most of the players will be seen in action in the Duleep Trophy, which starts from September 5 in Bengaluru.
With BCCI putting more emphasis on domestic cricket, the national selectors have struck a fine balance between domestic performers and potential talent while picking up four squads for the Duleep Trophy. All the big names, barring Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and R Ashwin, will take part in the tournament, which also marks the onset of the red ball season in India. All the senior pros have been rested keeping their workload in mind as the management want to avoid any last minute hiccups ahead of the important tour of Australia.
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However, legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar has expressed that the selectors should have kept Rohit and Kohli for the Duleep Trophy. With both cricketers in their mid 30s, Gavaskar feels the duo should engage in more game time to maintain the high standards they've set for themselves.
“The selectors have not picked the skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for the Duleep Trophy so they will most likely go into the Bangladesh Test series without much match practice,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for the Mid-Day.
“While it’s understandable that somebody like Jasprit Bumrah with his delicate back needs to be handled with care, the batters could have done with some batting time out in the middle. Once a player hits the mid-thirties in any sport, then regular competition will help him maintain the high standards he has set. When there’s a longish gap then the muscle memory weakens somewhat and to get back to the high standards from earlier is not easy,” he added.
