Duleep Trophy | Chance for Shreyas to re-establish his red-ball credentials

Shreyas Iyer leads Team-D against Ruturaj Gaikwad's Team-C in Duleep Trophy opener, missing Ishan Kishan due to injury.

Shreyas Iyer’s shot at redeeming himself in red-ball cricket will begin on Thursday (September 5, 2024) when he leads Team-D against Ruturaj Gaikwad’s Team-C in the first round of the Duleep Trophy at the Rural Trust Development Stadium in Anantapur.

The 29-year-old, who last played a Test for India in February, was omitted from the BCCI central contract list for not representing Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal last season.

Ishan Kishan was supposed to accompany Shreyas in the journey, but an injury suffered during the Buchi Babu invitational tournament has reportedly ruled him out. Suryakumar Yadav’s hand injury, also suffered during the the same tournament, meant Team-C was also not spared.

In Suryakumar’s absence, Ruturaj would need all the help he can get from the Tamil Nadu duo of B. Indrajith and Sai Sudharsan, with the latter heading in on the back of a County Championship hundred.

Rajat Patidar’s unconvincing maiden international assignment against England, where he scored just 63 runs in six innings, exposed his discomfort against the tweakers. This could make Axar Patel an effective option against the Madhya Pradesh batter.

Axar’s all-round abilities will also go a long way in reinforcing Team-D’s batting too, which appears to run thin in Ishan’s absence. Devdutt Padikkal, Yash Dubey, and Atharva Taide are likely to form the top order, with Shreyas and one of K.S. Bharat or Ricky Bhui anchoring the middle order.

In the 16 First Class games played at the venue, pacers have accounted for 361 batters. Spinners, on the other hand, have just 112 wickets. If the pitch plays the same, in Arshdeep Singh, Tushar Deshpande, and Harshit Rana, Team-D has a pace trio that can extract the most out of it.