Jay Shah emphasizes the importance of treating players with respect: Reacts to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma not playing Duleep Trophy

The Duleep Trophy is gearing up to showcase a lineup of international cricket stars, with several familiar faces set to represent their teams. However, fans will be disappointed to learn that key players such as captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah will be missing from the action. While Bumrah's absence was somewhat anticipated, there were whispers of Kohli and Rohit potentially using the tournament as a way to hone their skills ahead of the upcoming home Test series against Bangladesh.

However, the names of the two seniormost players in the Indian team was absent when the squads were announced for Team A, Team B, Team C and Team D. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah has now said that the priority is to make sure that Rohit and Kohli are fit for their India's five-match Test series in Australia later this year.

“Apart from them, everyone else is playing. You should appreciate that. One must note that Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer are playing in the Buchi Babu tournament,” Shah told The Times of India.

“We should not insist on players like Rohit and Virat to play in the Duleep Trophy. They will risk injury. If you have noticed, in Australia and England, every international player does not play domestic cricket. We have to treat the players with respect,” he further said.

Star-studded lineup for the Duleep Trophy

The Duleep Trophy this year acts as a predecessor to India's home Test season, in which they host Bangladesh for two matches and then New Zealand for three. Shubman Gill, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Shreyas Iyer were named captains of Team A, Team B, Team C and Team D respectively.

Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant was a regular in the Indian Test team and arguably the in-form batter in the side as well before his career came to a temporary halt due to a horrific car crash that he suffered in December 2022. He made his comeback to international cricket with the 2024 T20 World Cup and the Duleep Trophy will be his first red-ball outing since a Test match against Bangladesh in December 2022.

Left-handed wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan, who was removed from BCCI's central contracts list after he skipped the Ranji Trophy tournament last season giving priority to cash-rich IPL

Mohammed Siraj and Jadeja will turn up for Team B which also comprises Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Washington Sundar, while Shubman Gill will captain Team A, which consists of Kuldeep, KL Rahul, Shivam Dube and Riyan Parag among others.

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