Here's how the India internationals and those knocking on the door fared across three rounds of the pre-season Buchi Babu Invitational tournament in Tamil Nadu.
Kishan marks red-ball return with match-winning ton
Ishan Kishan celebrated a return to red-ball cricket after a year with a 107-ball 114 in Jharkhand's opening-round win over Madhya Pradesh but he managed just 1 and 5 in his side's loss to Hyderabad last week. That defeat ended their semi-final hopes as only the group topper qualifies.
Leading Jharkhand after much speculation over his availability for the tournament and the subsequent first-class season, Kishan hit more than half of his side's runs in his first outing in the competition. He struck five fours and ten sixes in his innings which helped Jharkhand open up a 64-run lead.
It proved to be just about match-winning as Jharkhand prevailed by two wickets in a chase of 175 with Kishan contributing a clutch unbeaten 41. At one stage, with Jharkhand's equation down to 12 runs required with two wickets in hand, Kishan chanced himself against spinner Akash Rajawat to hit two sixes in three deliveries.
Kishan will hope to build on that form in the Duleep Trophy, where he's part of the Shreyas Iyer-led India D that will play their first game against the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led India C in Anantapur from September 5.
Sarfaraz's captaincy debut
With Ajinkya Rahane in the UK for a county stint and Suryakumar Yadav available for just one fixture, Sarfaraz Khan was handed Mumbai's captaincy for this tournament. Sarfaraz's Mumbai bowed out of the competition with one defeat and a draw, where they conceded the first-innings lead and were made to follow on by Haryana.
Sarfaraz, who made a sparkling Test debut earlier this year against England, is one of India's middle order incumbents. Sarfaraz scored 0, 6, 29 and 37 in his four innings at the Buchi Babu Invitational tournament and it remains to be seen if he continues to be picked in the XI, especially with KL Rahul and Virat Kohli set to return.
Suryakumar cautious; Iyer does a Narine
There was a decent turnaround in Coimbatore for Mumbai's second group fixture against TNCA XI to watch Suryakumar, India's T20I captain, in action. His participation in the match, however, lasted just 38 balls after he picked up a hand injury while fielding. Whether the injury puts his participation in the upcoming Duleep Trophy in doubt or not is not known at this stage.
Suryakumar, who wanted to reclaim his Test berth, will be playing in Gaikwad's team in the Duleep Trophy.
Iyer, meanwhile, managed scores of 2 and 22 in a game where he made waves for bowling with Sunil Narine's action in TNCA XI's first innings.
Tilak Varma, on a comeback trail after suffering a wrist injury towards the end of the IPL, made 18 in his only innings in the group stage. Like Suryakumar and Iyer, Tilak has been picked for the Duleep Trophy, where he'll play for the Shubman Gill-led India A.
Sai Kishore continues to impress
If India are looking for a spinner outside of Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, it's likely R Sai Kishore is high on the list. A tall left-arm spinner, Sai Kishore is making a return from an injury that cut short his IPL campaign. But he's been able to build on the confidence from a chart-topping 2023-24 Ranji Trophy where he picked up 53 wickets in 15 innings.
He returned a match haul of 8 for 88 against a strong Mumbai line-up, including 5 for 36 in the first innings to set up a strong lead. Prior to that, he picked up 7 for 76 against Haryana to help TNCA XI take the first-innings honours. Those two strong results have ensured TNCA XI, the hosts, topped their group to make the semi-final.