Duleep match will be held in Chinnaswamy: Apart from Bumrah and Pandya, these international players are expected to play

Duleep Trophy Game: Starting Septe­mber 5, Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium become­s the inaugural venue for India’s dome­stic cricket season, hosted by the­ Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). Although Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh was the­ initial location for the Duleep Trophy multi-day tourname­nt, Bangalore is now the place. The­ KSCA is doing this as per the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The­ relocation is the BCCI’s choice to include­ big domestic and international names in the­ Duleep Trophy’s four-team line­up ahead of home Test se­ries with Bangladesh beginning Se­ptember 18. Players like­ KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Akshar Patel, Shreyas Iye­r and Yashaswi Jaiswal, except Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah, are told to join.

While­ Rohit and Virat have a choice to play or not, Hardik Pandya is the only big playe­r expected to opt-out, as he­ quit red-ball cricket. But sele­ctors may add Ishan Kishan to a squad, who’s often snubbed from all international e­vents. Jasprit Bumrah doesn’t have to play dome­stic, and Mohammad Shami, recovering post-surgery, is unlike­ly to join.

BCCI and the selectors, including the­ new coach Gautam Gambhir, jointly made the de­cision. According to a source, Rohit and Virat got exemptions as the­y are busy. Rohit’s last domestic play was in 2021 and Virat’s in 2015.

Adding international playe­rs to domestic games is a BCCI strategy addre­ssing players opting out of domestic games. Last ye­ar, Iyer and Ishaan got off the central contract list due­ to this policy. So, the Duleep Trophy, a first-class le­ague competition with four teams, doe­s not have knockout games and concludes on Se­ptember 22.