Is it fair that Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli are not playing Duleep Trophy 2024?

With the appointment of new head coach Gautam Gambhir, things were definitely bound to change drastically in the Indian cricket team set up. One of the major agenda in the recent times has been that the star Indian cricketers are not available to play domestic cricket majority of the times. In the past, both BCCI Secretary Jay Shah and Gambhir have been quiet vocal about the fact that every single player will have to be available for the domestic competitions during their off-season or when there is no international cricket happening. On the contrary, current India Test captain Rohit Sharma and star batsman Virat Kohli are not part of the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2024 squads scheduled to begin from September 5, 2024, in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh and M Chinnaswamy stadium, Bengaluru.

Why Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli are not playing Duleep Trophy 2024?

After the historic triumph at the T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and USA, India's star duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli returned in action for the India vs Sri Lanka three-match ODI series. Apart from the Indian captain scoring two impressive half-centuries, the rest of the batting line-up struggled against the Sri Lankan spinners to a great extent. Kohli failed to score even a single fifty and most importantly, he got out to spin in all of the three ODI matches. The Indian batters have been exposed against quality opposition spinners across the three formats of the game in recent times and for the same reason, many of the cricketing experts have stated that not playing domestic cricket is one of the major reasons of struggling against spin bowlers. 

India's international cricketing calendar will now resume with the upcoming India vs Bangladesh two-match Test series and the opening Test match is scheduled to begin from 19 September, 2024. The IND vs SL third and final ODI match was played on 7 August, 2024, which means there is a long gap between these two assignments. Many of the cricketers who are in the scheme of things for the Indian Test squad namely Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Dhruv Jurel, Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Siraj are part of the Duleep Trophy 2024 squads. India's premier speedster Jasprit Bumrah can be considered as an exception because his workload needs to be managed, but there is no explanation for the exclusion of Kohli and Rohit from the red-ball domestic tournament. 

During a recent interview, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah mentioned that both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma should not be insisted to play in the Duleep Trophy because it can risk them into injury. On the other hand, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar stated that both these star batters should have played the Duleep Trophy 2024 in order to improve their game against quality spinners. The upcoming domestic competition will be a great preparation for the home Test matches against Bangladesh and New Zealand to be played later this year. 

“It doesn’t make sense to add to Virat and Rohit’s load by asking them to play domestic cricket. They run the risk of getting injured,” BCCI Secretary Jay Shah had said to TOI.

“The selectors have not picked the skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for the Duleep Trophy so they will most likely go into the Bangladesh Test series without much match practice,” former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar wrote in his column for the Mid-day.

“While it’s understandable that somebody like Jasprit Bumrah with his delicate back needs to be handled with care, the batters could have done with some batting time out in the middle. Once a player hits the mid-thirties in any sport, then regular competition will help him maintain the high standards he has set. When there’s a longish gap, then the muscle memory weakens somewhat and to get back to the high standards from earlier is not easy,” he added.

On the other hand, experienced players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli going to play in the Duleep Trophy 2024 season would have benefitted the youngsters who are not part of the international sides. It would have been a huge moment for any bowler to dismiss two of the stalwarts of the Indian cricket team even at the domestic level. However, both these players will not be seen in this year's Duleep Trophy and they will be straightaway back on the field during the homes Test matches against Bangladesh and New Zealand. India is also scheduled to visit Australia later this year for the all-important Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.