Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli | Source: X.com
In a recent turn of events, Indian batting stars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have made themselves unavailable for the Duleep Trophy 2024.
Along with the duo, Ravichandran Ashwin and star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah have also withdrawn from the four-team domestic competition.
This follows an earlier report from The Indian Express stating that the BCCI had asked senior players, including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja, to participate in the Duleep Trophy 2024.
While the reasons behind Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s unavailability for the Duleep Trophy remain unclear, it will be interesting to see how the Indian management, particularly head coach Gautam Gambhir, will react to this decision.
The Indian management wanted the senior players to participate in the Duleep Trophy to prepare for the Bangladesh Test series, scheduled to start on August 19. This comes after several senior players struggled against spin during the recent series in Sri Lanka.
Virat Kohli, in fact, did not manage to score a half-century in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, which India lost 2–0 after the first match ended in a tie. Meanwhile, Bumrah has been on the rest ever since the T20 World Cup 2024.