The Duleep Trophy 2024 has already started on Thursday in Anantapur and Bengaluru. The selection committee of the BCCI is closely monitoring the matches. Since many of India’s regulars were participating owing to a mandate by the BCCI for centrally-contracted players, the selectors had hinted that the performances in this tournament could go into consideration when choosing India’s 15-member Test squad for the coming two-match series against Bangladesh. While most Test aspirants struggled in the opening round, a few managed to make an impact on Day 1.

Pant, Iyer And Jaiswal Fail To Make An Impact

Majority of batters failed to make an impact but the exceptions were Musheer Khan and Axar Patel. At the Bengaluru venue, India B’s Yashasvi Jaiswal, who is expected to open alongside India captain Rohit Sharma in the ensuing Test series against Bangladesh, had a decent start, making a brisk 30 off 59 balls, studded with six boundaries, before falling to left-arm quick Khaleel Ahmed, who had kept him in check early on. From the fall of Jaiswal, the rest of the India B lineup folded in a heap as the team lost seven wickets for just 94 runs in 43.5 overs. The other contributors were Sarfaraz Khan’s 9 off 35, Rishabh Pant’s 7 off 10 and an upsetting duck off 13 balls from Washington Sundar.

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India D captain Shreyas Iyer, who is trying to get back his spot in the Indian Test middle-order after being axed following the England series early this year, could score a mere 9 off 16 balls. Devdutt Padikkal, who did well enough to register a half-century on his Test debut against England in Dharamsala went for a first-ball duck off just four balls. Meanwhile, KS Bharat, who has not really made an impact in his seven Tests so far, made a sedate 13 off 42 balls. For India C, Ruturaj Gaikwad, who came close to an India debut last year, was out for 5 runs while Sai Sudharsan, who missed a potential debut due to injury, was dismissed for 7 off 16 balls.

Axar Patel And Akash Deep Steal The Spotlight 

The day belonged to all-rounder Axar Patel, who came up with an all-round performance. His brilliant 86 helped India D recover from a precarious 34 for five to 164 all out. To add to his batting star act, Axar dismissed two batsmen and caught one off his own bowling.

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Coming back after a bout of dengue fever and without match practice since June, Akash Deep was quite accurate. Bowling on a greenish track in Bengaluru, India A pacer Akash Deep, who had made his Test debut against England in Ranchi, caused early problems to Jaiswal with his fine seam movement. The best delivery was a length ball that nipped away to send Nitish Reddy’s stumps cartwheeling. In fact, Reddy had played the right line, but was undone by the late subtle movement of the ball.