India A team selection leaves Duleep teams on tenterhooks

It seems a crisis situation for all three teams in the Duleep Trophy as out of 45 players, 14 have been named in the India A squad to play four-day games against New Zealand A at Vijaywada later this month.

BCCI on Sunday named India Green’s Karun Nair as captain of the India A for the first four-day game from September 23 to 26 and then in the second game from September 30 to October 3.

Besides Nair, Priyank Panchal, Ravi Samarth, Sudip Chatterjee, Ankit Bawne, keeperbatsman Rishabh Pant, Shahbaz Nadeem, K Gowtham, Navdeep Saini, Mohd Siraj, Ankit Rajpoot and Shahbaz Nadeem would be missing, if their sides make it to the final.

“What happens if we make it to the final of the Duleep Trophy (from September 25 to 29)? We would again be banking on new faces and having the same co-ordination like we have today, would be difficult to have,” a source in one of the Duleep Trophy teams told HT on Sunday.

Both India Red and India Green after finishing their game here, would move to Kanpur to play the remaining two matches at the Green Park stadium. India Red will take on Suresh Rainaled India Blue in the next match from September 13 to 16, before India Blue playing the last league match against India Green from September 19-22 also at Kanpur. “Even before the final, the third league game would be a problem as the match finishes on September 22 and the game against India A starts on September 23.

“We will have all the players to play the next league match, but thereafter you need to draw a different plan for the last game. In fact, this hotchpotch would rob the charm of the prestigious Duleep Trophy,” a former Ranji Trophy cricketer said.