The final push for a spot on the Indian team: Will Sanju take advantage of this fallen opportunity?
India has a packed cricket schedule coming up. They have five series to play within the next four months, three of which are Test series.
The governing board has recommended that all players participate in domestic matches before these Test series. The BCCI has also requested that all players with central contracts represent their teams in the Duleep Trophy.
However, when the Duleep Trophy team was announced, fans hoping to see Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson were disappointed. His underwhelming performance in the series against Sri Lanka played a significant role in his exclusion. Sanju needed to excel in the Duleep Trophy to redeem himself.
Recent reports suggest that Sanju was not unfairly overlooked but was given a chance to rest.
Sanju has been part of the Indian team for the last few months, participating in the T20 squad for both India’s post-World Cup tour of Zimbabwe and their tour of Sri Lanka.
Thus, the report indicates that Sanju was absent from the initial Duleep Trophy matches because he requested some rest.
After the first two matches, all key Indian players will join the Bangladesh Test series, leading to changes in the Duleep Trophy teams. Currently, since Sanju is not featured in India’s red-ball format, reports suggest he may participate in the Duleep Trophy.
Given the current circumstances, Sanju will need to fight for a position in the squad for the T20I series against Bangladesh as well. If he performs well in the latter matches of the Duleep Trophy, a slim chance will remain for him.
Duleep Trophy Team
Team A
Shubman Gill (captain), Mayank Aggarwal, Ryan Parag, Dhruv Jurrell, K. L. Rahul, Tilak Verma, Shivam Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Prasath Krishna, Khalil Ahmed, Josht Khan, Vidwat Kawerappa, Kumar Kushagra, and Shaswat Rawat.
Team B
Abhimanyu Easwaran (captain), Yashaswi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant, Musheer Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Siraj, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, Ravishrinivasal Saikishore, Mohit Awasthi, Narayan Jagadeesan.
(*Nitish Kumar Reddy’s selection is subject to fitness)
Team C
Rituraj Gaekwad (captain), Sai Sudarshan, Rajat Patidar, Abhishek Porel, Suryakumar Yadav, Baba Indrajith, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Umran Malik, Vysakh Vijaykumar, Anshul Kamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markande, Sandeep Warrier.
Team D
Shreyas Iyer (captain), Atharva Taide, Yash Dubey, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan, Ricky Bhui, Saramsh Jain, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Aditya Thackeray, Harshit Rana, Tusshar Deshpande, Akash Sengupta, K. S. Bharat, Saurabh Kumar.
Content highlight: Reports indicate Sanju Samson will participate in the second half of the Duleep Trophy.