5 things we learnt from India's squad for first Bangladesh Test and first round of Duleep Trophy

The opening round of the Duleep Trophy came to a conclusion on Sunday with India B thrashing India A by 76 runs, a day after India C handed India D a four-wicket loss.

As prestigious as the Duleep Trophy is, it assumes extra significance this year as the BCCI made it mandatory for senior players to participate in the tournament that is the most important in Indian domestic cricket after the Ranji Trophy.

The idea was for the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee to make their final choices regarding the squad for the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh, India’s first Test assignment since thrashing England 4-1 at home in February-March.

While India C’s victory had come on the penultimate day in Anantapur, India B won their encounter by a handsome margin at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday, the final day. And no sooner had the opening round come to an end than the BCCI unveiled India’s squad , albeit for the first Test against the visiting ‘Tigers’ in Chennai.

While most of the squad picked itself, one couldn’t help but notice the fact that a couple of selections might have had something to do with the events of the Duleep Trophy since Thursday.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the Duleep Trophy as well as from India’s first Test squad:

Pant remains first-choice keeper

Rishabh Pant was trolled online after getting dismissed for 7 in his first First-Class outing since he survived a car accident in December 2022 that ruled him out of action for more than a year. Pant, representing India B against India A in Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium, however, bounced back in style in the second innings by smashing his way to a 34-ball half-century.

The hero of ‘Gabba 2021’ ended up scoring a quickfire 61 off 47 balls, stitching a valuable 72-run partnership with Sarfaraz Khan to help India B recover from a shaky position of 22/3. Thanks to their efforts, India B were able to set a challenging target of 275, which they ended up defending quite easily.

Pant was likely the first-choice keeper even if he did not crack that whirlwind half-century. The half-century and the way he went about scoring runs in a pressure situation, however, removed any existing doubts in the minds of the selectors and the team leadership regarding his ability to produce match-winning performances.

And it’s not just with the bat that he contributed; Pant effected seven dismissals in the entire match including five during India A’s chase. Plus, he had plenty of fun yapping away behind the stumps, at one point even engaging in some banter with left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav.

Dhruv Jurel had an impressive debut against England earlier this year, but he will have to wait for his turn just as Pant had waited for an opportunity in white-ball cricket. He was named in the squad for the first Test but as a back-up to Pant. Sarfaraz, meanwhile, also got named in the squad, both for his sensational debut against England earlier this year as well as his 46 off 36 in Pant’s company on Saturday.

Spin department remains the same for now

The Ajit Agarkar-led spin department, however, decided not to change the spin combination for now, retaining Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav alongside stalwarts Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Left-arm finger spinner Manav Suthar starred in India C’s victory over India D on Saturday, collecting 7 for 49 to help bowl the opposition out for 236. He would later chip in with a patient 19 not out off 43 balls, to guide his team home in the company of Abhishek Porel (35 not out), helping India C chase the 233-run target down with four wickets to spare.

Given the abundance of left-arm spinners in the Indian Test team at the moment, it might take some time before Suthar gets the much-awaited national call-up. However, his match-winning haul certainly will have made an impression on the selectors and they might just be looking at him as a long-term replacement for Jadeja once he decides to hang up his boots.

Shami yet to fully recover from ankle injury

One important name was missing from India’s squad for the first Test — senior pacer Mohammed Shami, who has been out of action since his red-hot run in the ODI World Cup, suffering an ankle injury and undergoing surgery on the same area ever since.

Shami, however, appears not to have fully from the injury, and might just return in the second Test. The Bengal speedster had uploaded videos to his social media accounts in which he was seen bowling in the nets, raising hopes of his return to action in the Bangladesh series.

The team management, however, will not be rushing his return anytime soon and will be hoping to have him fully fit for the Australia tour that gets underway on 22 November.

Shami is expected to play in the Ranji Trophy for Bengal, starting on 11 October now to make a case for India call-up.

Dayal rewarded with a maiden call-up

Shami’s continued absence allowed the selectors to add someone else to India’s pace attack, with the Agarkar-led committee including Yash Dayal for the first Test.

Dayal had exorcised the demons of getting smashed for five sixes by Rinku Singh last year by bowling Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a famous victory over Chennai Super Kings at the Chinnaswamy in April, halting vaunted finisher MS Dhoni in the death overs.

On Sunday, Dayal led the way for the India B attack with a haul of 3/50 that, together with Navdeep Saini (2/41) and Mukesh Kumar’s (2/50) contributions, helped their team bundle India A out for 198 in their chase of 275.

No room for Iyer and Kishan yet

There was, however, no room for senior middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer and wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, both of whom had been dropped from the BCCI’s central contracts list for failure to prioritise domestic cricket.

Kishan had starred in the recent Buchi Babu Tournament for Jharkhand but was subsequently ruled out of the first round in the Duleep Trophy, thus not getting the opportunity to make a strong statement.

Kishan last represented India in November last year during the T20I series against Australia before going on a “mental health” break. Iyer too had been dropped after the first two Tests against England, which was then followed by the contracts episode.

Both Iyer and Kishan will be hoping to produce match-winning performances in the second round of the Duleep Trophy and impress the selectors enough to remain in the fray for the second Test against Bangladesh, in Kanpur starting 27 September.

India squad for first Test against Bangladesh: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal.