Jay Shah opens up on Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma not playing Duleep Trophy: 'Have to treat the players with respect'

The Duleep Trophy is set to be a star-studded affair with international cricket regulars set to appear for their respective teams. Among the few notable absentees among the big names of Indian cricket are captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah. While it had largely been expected that Bumrah will be be allowed to extend his rest if he chooses to do so, there were some murmurs of Kohli and Rohit making a rare appearance in domestic cricket so as to prepare for the upcoming home Test series against Bangladesh. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will return to action during Bangladesh Test series next month

However, the names of the two senior most players in the Indian team was absent when the squads were announced for Team A, Team B, Team C and Team D. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah has now said that the priority is to make sure that Rohit and Kohli are fit for their India's five-match Test series in Australia later this year.

“Apart from them, everyone else is playing. You should appreciate that. One must note that Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer are playing in the Buchi Babu tournament,” Shah told The Times of India.

“We should not insist on players like Rohit and Virat to play in the Duleep Trophy. They will risk injury. If you have noticed, in Australia and England, every international player does not play domestic cricket. We have to treat the players with respect,” he further said.

Star-studded lineup for the Duleep Trophy

The Duleep Trophy this year acts as a predecessor to India's home Test season, in which they host Bangladesh for two matches and then New Zealand for three. Shubman Gill, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Shreyas Iyer were named captains of Team A, Team B, Team C and Team D respectively.

Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant was a regular in the Indian Test team and arguably the in-form batter in the side as well before his career came to a temporary halt due to a horrific car crash that he suffered in December 2022. He made his comeback to international cricket with the 2024 T20 World Cup and the Duleep Trophy will be his first red-ball outing since a Test match against Bangladesh in December 2022.

Left-handed wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan, who was removed from BCCI's central contracts list after he skipped the Ranji Trophy tournament last season giving priority to cash-rich IPL, wil be back in action as well in the Duleep Trophy. Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja will turn up for Team B, which also comprises Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Washington Sundar, while Shubman Gill will captain Team A, which consists of Kuldeep, KL Rahul, Shivam Dube and Riyan Parag among others.

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