The Rising Stars to Watch at Duleep Trophy: Rishabh Pant's Comeback and Redemption for Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer

The 2024 Duleep Trophy is shaping up to be a highly competitive tournament as the Indian selectors and team management have emphasized that player performances in the domestic event will directly impact selection for the upcoming home Test matches against Bangladesh and New Zealand. Despite the absence of star players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravichandran Ashwin, the majority of the Indian team's core players in all formats are expected to participate in this prestigious tournament.

The Duleep Trophy itself has been revamped. while teams used to represent the South, North, West, Central, East and North-East zones in past editions, the competition has been reduced to four teams named Team A, Team B, Team C and Team D. All will play each other in a round-robin format, with the team finishing on top being declared the champions.

Bangladesh, fresh from their historic series whitewash of Pakistan away from home, will face India in two Tests after which New Zealand tour the nation for three games. This of course will be followed by arguably the showpiece event of the year - The Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia which has been extended to five Test matches instead of the usual four.

Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will arguably be the one with most eyes on him during the Duleep Trophy. Pant was pretty much the first name on the team sheet in Test cricket for India before his career came to a halt due to a car crash in December 2022. He returned to international cricket at the T20 World Cup and the Duleep Trophy will be Pant's first red-ball ball outing since December 2022.

The only question for him to answer would be whether he can stay ahead of KL Rahul in the competition for that lower-order batter and wicketkeeper's position. had been in scintillating form as wicketkeeper-batter in the 2023 World Cup and transferred that to Test cricket in the tour of South Africa. However, he missed four out of the five Tests against England due to injury and, with the return of Pant, his spot in the team is under the scanner despite his performances. Rahul will be playing for Team A under the captaincy of Shubman Gill while Pant will be playing for Team B under Abhimanyu Easwaran.

Another player returning from a short injury break in Team B would be ace all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. The 35-year-old has not played any cricket since India's 2024 T20 World Cup final against South Africa on June 29. Jadeja's last red-ball outing was the fifth Test in Dharamsala against England in March.

Among those in the Duleep Trophy who haven't been regulars in the Indian Test XI is Kuldeep Yadav. Kuldeep is a first-choice spinner for India in limited overs cricket but it is yet to be seen if the selectors are ready to give him that mantle in Tests as well. While he will never be seen as a lead spinner in the format for as long as Ashwin and Jadeja are around, Kuldeep's extraordinary recent form in white-ball cricket would make it hard for the Indian think tank to look past him.

Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer both fell out of favour with the Indian team management and were subsequently even excluded from the central contracts. Both players had come under criticism for not playing domestic cricket when asked to and so this is a chance for them to show their credentials as well. Ishan seems too low in the pecking order to stand a chance at making the Indian team due to the presence of Pant and Rahul as options for wicketkeeper-batter. Iyer, captain of Team D, on the other hand, has a far better chance, especially considering he already has a good working relationship with head coach Gautam Gambhir as they led Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL title this year.

India's new T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav is well down in the pecking order in Test cricket, having played just one match and scored eight runs in it in his career. He had stated that he continues to be keen to play in whites for India and recently played the Buchi Babu Invitational Tournament. However, he has been ruled out of the opening round of the 2024-25 Duleep Trophy to nurse a hand injury he sustained during the tournament. Whether that spells the end to his already bleak chances, we will have to wait and see.