Rishabh Pant's red-ball comeback to Ishan Kishan's second chance: What to expect from the stars at Duleep Trophy

The 2024 Duleep Trophy is quite a star-studded affair with most of the regular Indian players and the leading contenders for spots all featuring in it. The competition, which will be played in a round-robin league format between four teams. While these 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.

The Duleep Trophy is being seen as a testing ground, and practice ground, for players hoping to make it to the Indian team ahead of the home season in which the country hosts five Test matches. Two of those will be against Bangladesh, followed by three against New Zealand. Additionally, players would also have their eye on being part of the touring party for the five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia later in the year.

Here we take a look at some of the players who have had a regular presence in the Indian team and what is at stake for them:

Ravindra Jadeja: Arguably the only player in this list who is guaranteed a spot in the Indian team ahead for the home Test matches, the Duleep Trophy is where Ravindra Jadeja would be looking to get back into the swing of things, having 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. Jadeja will be playing for Team A under the captaincy of Abhimanyu Easwaran.

Rishabh Pant: Apart from Jadeja, it is Rishabh Pant who has the strongest credentials to be a first-choice in the Indian eleven for the series against Bangladesh. 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 mark for him would be the fact that KL Rahul excelled as wicketkeeper-batter in his absence but it is highly likely that Pant, like Jadeja, would be looking at the Duleep Trophy as a way to get back into the groove of things in long-form cricket. Pant will be playing with Jadeja for Team B.

KL Rahul: Injuries have not been a friend for KL Rahul. He 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.

Ishan Kishan: Another candidate for the wicketkeeper's slot, the Duleep Trophy acts as a way for Ishan Kishan to get back in the good books of the Indian team management and selectors after he ran afoul and lost his place in the national team late last year. Kishan's chances of making it to the Indian team as a wicketkeeper-batter is miniscule but there will be a lot of eyes on him regardless. He is playing for Team D under Shreyas Iyer.

Shreyas Iyer: Captain of Team D, Iyer, like Kishan, had lost his central contract late last year and is now trying to get back in the good books of the Indian team management. The fact that he had a good working relationship with Gautam Gambhir as they led Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL title last year might work in his favour. Iyer had been dropped from the Indian Test team due to a string of poor performances during the home series against England earlier this year, with his last red-ball appearance being the thrilling second Test in Visakhapatnam in February.

Shubman Gill: The top-order batter is captain of Team A and he, like Pant and Jadeja, would be looking at this competition as a way to get back into Test cricket mode. Gill established himself as a successor to Cheteshwar Pujara in the No.3 slot with some exceptional performances during the home series against England.

Kuldeep Yadav: It is pretty clear now that Kuldeep Yadav 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 Ravichandran 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 and he would be looking to strengthen his credentials in the Duleep Trophy. He is turning out for Team A.

Suryakumar Yadav: India's new T20 captain, arguably the best batter in the world in that format and yet, seemingly far away from the playing eleven in both of the formats. Suryakumar Yadav is in quite a strange situation. The 33-year-old has made just one Test appearance, in which he fell for eight runs off 20 balls against Nathan Lyon, but he has played 82 first class games in his career. Suryakumar said that he still has a return to Test cricket on his mind. He will play for Team C under the captaincy of Ruturaj Gaikwad.