Why almost all major star players are playing in Duleep Trophy?

The 2024 Edition of the Duleep Trophy began on Thursday. All four teams got down to playing with some of the big players marking their presence. Former BCCI secretary Jay Shah had revealed that it was important for all the players to make themselves available for domestic cricket. 

After a rest of nearly a month, the Indian players are gearing up for a massive season of cricket. Since the focus is on red ball cricket with 10 Test matches set to be played in 4 months, Duleep Trophy has gained huge importance. 

The first two assignments will see the Indian team take on Bangladesh and New Zealand at home. The focus will then shift to the Australian tour as Rohit Sharma and his men play five Test matches. Team India will look to keep their streak of not losing the Border Gavaskar series for over a decade. 

Why are all the big players taking part in Duleep Trophy 2024?

The biggest reason behind all the players taking part in the Duleep Trophy is to get ready for the huge tour of Australia. During his chat with CRICBUZZ, Dinesh Karthik said that Sarfaraz Khan and Shubman Gill are the best candidates to replace Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. 

The two Indian youngsters are part of the India A and India B teams who are playing the game in Bengaluru. With the Indian middle-order having a new look and without much experience in Australia the two players will use this as the right tool to prepare. 

The likes of KL Rahul, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, and Arshdeep Singh will also want to do well. The aforementioned players will play a key role in the next few months. Indian selectors have always said that they need a larger pool of bench and Duleep Trophy 2024 will be the right platform to Test out the bench strength. 

Finally one of the main reasons is for stars like Rishabh Pant to get back to the red-ball format. The 26-year-old is a huge X-Factor for the Indian team in the Test format. His record in Australia speaks for itself. The Duleep Trophy is the ideal tournament for the Delhi-based star to ease himself back into form and make his Test return.