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Indian Cricket team stars Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Sarfaraz Khan will be featuring in the Buchi Babu tournament 2024 which is all set to start from 15th August in Tamilnadu across four venues.
The Buchi Babu Tournament was India's premier tournament till the 1934 season when Ranji Trophy became India's biggest first-class tournament. The tournament was stopped in the 2016 season but Tamil Nadu Cricket Association resumed the invitational tournament after a gap of six years in 2023.
Buchi Babu Tournament is played in a four-day format just like Ranji Trophy and the winner gets a Rs 3 lakh cash prize while the runners-up team gets Rs 2 lakh.
Madhya Pradesh are the current defending champions of the tournament as they defeated Delhi in the last season's final.
Teams participating in the Buchi Babu Tournament 2024
There will be 10 state teams including two local teams. Here are the teams who will be participating in the tournament this season:
Baroda, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat Cricket Association, Haryana, Hyderabad Cricket Association, Indian Railways, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand Cricket Association, Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai, TNCA President's XI and TNCA XI.
Groups
Group A: Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Hyderabad
Group B: Railways, Gujarat and TNCA President’s XI
Group C: Mumbai, Haryana and TNCA XI
Group D: Jammu & Kashmir, Chhattisgarh and Baroda
Schedule
Round 1 (Aug 15-18): Madhya Pradesh vs Jharkhand, Railways vs Gujarat, Mumbai vs Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir vs Chattisgarh
Round 2 (Aug 21-24): Jharkhand vs Hyderabad, Railways vs TNCA President’s XI, Haryana vs TNCA XI, Jammu & Kashmir vs BAR
Round 3 (Aug 27-30): Madhya Pradesh vs Hyderabad, Gujarat vs TNCA President’s XI, Mumbai vs TNCA XI, Baroda vs Chattisgarh.
Semi-finals (Sep 2-5): Winner Group A vs Winner Group B, Winner Group C vs Winner Ground D
Final (Sep 8-11).
Ishan Kishan, Surykumar Yadav and Sarfaraz Khan to feature
Indian T20I team captain Suryakumar Yadav will be the one to watch out for in the tournament as he will be playing for Mumbai in the tournament. "I want to play for India in all the three formats. Playing in Buchi Babu will give me good practice for the red ball tournaments this season," Surya was quoted by TOI as he prepares for a long season ahead.
Sarfraz Khan, another Mumbai star who recently made his test debut in the home series against England in February, will also be playing in the Buchi Babu Tournament to prepare for a 10-test season ahead for the Indian men's cricket team.
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However, Ishan Kishan will be the cricketer under the spotlight as the Jharkhand wicket-keeper batter will be playing his first game for his home state since 2022. Kishan, who last played a first-class match against West Indies in 2023, opted out of the South Africa test series due to mental fatigue.
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After that Kishan lost the BCCI's central contract as he did not appear in the domestic season for Jharakhnd and chose to join his IPL captain Hardik Pandya for private practice sessions. Since then, KS Bharat and Dhruv Jurel have made their test debuts as wicket-keeper batters and the latter did well in the England series too.
Initially, Kishan was not named in the Jharkhand squad but since he expressed his desire to play in the tournament, he was added to the squad and will be leading the team as well. Kishan is also in line to be Jharkhand's captain for the 2024-25 domestic season.