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BCCI domestic cricket, Duleep Trophy, Indian cricket team selection, state cricket associations, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, central contracts
KL Rahul and Mohammed Siraj could be playing Duleep Trophy soon.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has cracked the whip on the state associations for not selecting the available national stars, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj and Washington Sundar, among others, for the upcoming 2025 Duleep Trophy season.
In an email to all state associations, the BCCI’s general manager of cricket operations, Abey Kuruvilla, reminded them of the need to uphold the competition’s prestige by selecting the best available players. It follows the BCCI’s orders from last season, making playing domestic cricket mandatory for all international stars during their breaks from the Indian team, as a condition for getting recognised by central contracts.
“To uphold its prestige and ensure the highest quality of competition, it’s imperative that all currently available India players are selected for their respective zonal teams. Requesting the Zonal Convenors to ensure that all the current India players who are available to play Duleep trophy should be picked,” Kuruvilla wrote in the email, as quoted by The Indian Express.
The Duleep Trophy is a Zonal tournament with six zones. Teams are picked by Zonal selectors who are picked from the state associations.
The newspaper’s report said that although the mail was written to all state associations, the insinuation came from the South Zone selection. It happened before any other zone and didn’t include any of the aforementioned players, nor the likes of Prasidh Krishna and Sai Sudharsan.
“Participation in domestic matches: All players, contracted or otherwise, who make themselves available for selection into Team India, shall participate in domestic matches conducted by BCCI. In case any player opts not to participate in any domestic cricket tournaments in spite of availability, he/she shall not be considered for selection unless a prior recommendation is obtained to skip the match/tournament from the National coach and the chairman of selection committee, and prior approval from the BCCI. In case any leave is granted, the same shall be considered on the basis of some valid and cogent reason,” he added.
The Duleep Trophy begins on August 28. It’s unclear whether South Zone picks an updated squad.
The report said that some zonal selectors are hesitant about picking international players because they believe the tournament is a good chance to give opportunities to those who work hard in Ranji Trophy all year along.
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