Rishabh Pant is set to make his comeback in red-ball cricket with the 2024-25 Duleep Trophy, as the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee picked the squads for the first round of the tournament. This is the first time Pant will play first-class cricket since his car accident in December 2022.
Mohammed Shami, however, isn't part of any of the four squads. He is nearing full fitness and has begun bowling full tilt as he targets a comeback during the two-Test home series against Bangladesh from September 19. Shami is expected to continue training under the NCA's watch in Bengaluru.
Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan, who had lost their central contracts for not prioritising domestic cricket last season, are also back in the first-class fold along with a host of other top players, including KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill and Kuldeep Yadav.
As reported by ESPNcricinfo, Test captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah have been given an extended break ahead of India's home season.
Fast bowler Prasidh Krishna, whose most recent competitive game was in January 2024, is also set to make a comeback after a lengthy injury layoff. He is in the final stages of rehab for a quadriceps tendon injury, for which he underwent surgery in February. Prasidh will miss the Maharaja T20 Trophy, Karnataka's domestic T20 competition, to complete his recovery ahead of the first round of the Duleep Trophy matches played simultaneously in Anantapur and Bengaluru from September 5.
Top-order batter Tilak Varma, who suffered a wrist injury towards the end of IPL 2024, was also picked for the Duleep Trophy. He wasn't picked in India's squad that played five T20Is in Zimbabwe in July because of the injury.
The selection panel has rewarded domestic form, an example of which is the inclusion of Mumbai allrounder Musheer Khan. The 19-year-old had a breakout year in which he was part of India's Under-19 World Cup squad as well as Mumbai's victorious Ranji Trophy campaign.
Musheer, who struck a double-hundred in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final and a match-winning hundred in the final, will play alongside his older brother and India batter Sarfaraz Khan, one of the several contenders for a place in India's Test middle order.
Allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has been included subject to fitness. He is recovering from a sports hernia surgery in June, after being withdrawn from India's T20I squad to Zimbabwe. Some notable names not to make the cut were Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson and Shams Mulani. It is not yet known whether any of them would come in as replacements for the Test players who will leave after the first round.
Originally a zonal competition featuring teams from six zones - North, South, East, West, Central and North-East - Duleep Trophy will have only four teams this time, named Team A, Team B, Team C and Team D. The players who will be picked for the Bangladesh series will be replaced in the Duleep Trophy.
Duleep Trophy 2024-25 squads (first round)
Team A: Shubman Gill (capt), Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel (wk), KL Rahul, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Vidwath Kaverappa, Kumar Kushagra, Shaswat Rawat.
Team B: Abhimanyu Easwaran (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Musheer Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy (subject to fitness), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Siraj, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, N Jagadeesan (wk)
Team C: Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Abishek Porel (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, B Indrajith, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Umran Malik, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Anshul Khamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markande, Aryan Juyal (wk), Sandeep Warrier
Team D: Shreyas Iyer (capt), Atharva Taide, Yash Dubey, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Ricky Bhui, Saransh Jain, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Aditya Thakare, Harshit Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Sengupta, KS Bharat (wk), Saurabh Kumar