Ex-India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar suggested that India’s Test captain Rohit Sharma, along with Virat Kohli and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, should have participated in one of the most reputed domestic tournaments Duleep Trophy.
India is set for a long season of Test cricket with 10 matches starting on September 19. They will play five Tests against Bangladesh at their home and New Zealand. After that, they will move to Australia in November for a historic five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
However, Rohit and Kohli will enter the Test season with little red-ball practice since they decided not to play in the first round of the Duleep Trophy, starting on September 5 in Bengaluru and Anantapur.
Rohit captained India to a 4-1 Test series win against England in March, while Kohli last played a Test in South Africa in January. On the other hand, Bumrah has had a long break since India’s T20 World Cup win and missed the tours to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka that followed.
India’s batting against spin was questioned after they lost to Sri Lanka for the first time in 27 years. During the series, they lost 28 out of 30 wickets to spin bowlers.
“India has played 249 international matches (since Aug 1, 2019) in the last 5 years. Rohit has played only 59% of those. Virat 61 % & Bumrah 34%. I see them as well rested India players. Could have been selected for the Duleep trophy,” Manjrekar wrote on X.
