Ishan Kishan and Yashasvi Jaiswal made their test debuts for India in the WIvsIND, 1st test in Dominica. Although there were no questions about Yashasvi Jaiswal's inclusion as an opener for India, netizens were unhappy with Ishan Kishan's inclusion in the test arena for the men in blue, dropping KS Bharat from the team.

Ishan, who did not play any first-class match recently, replaced KS Bharat as the wicket-keeper batter of the team. Bharat, who featured in five tests for India, did a decent job with the gloves in the absence of Rishabh Pant and Wriddhiman Saha. With Rahul Dravid and the team management being vocal about not thinking of Saha as the future, Bharat was told to be the future for India with the gloves on.

Ishan Kishan averages 38.76 with the bat in first-class cricket and last played a red-ball game in in December 2022.

Now, after just playing five tests, all against Australia including the WTC Final in England, was dropped without much clarification from the team management. As per the fans, if BCCI had believed that KS Bharat was the future, why he got replaced by someone who did not even play a red ball game in recent times. Kishan last played a red ball game in December 2022.

KS Bharat scored 129 runs in five tests averaging only 18.42 with the bat to go with his 13 dismissals from behind the stumps.

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Hello and welcome to another LIVE coverage of Duleep Trophy 2024. From today onwards we will bring you all the LIVE updates of the Duleep Trophy 2024 Round 2 matches where India A is facing India D while India C is going against India B in Anantapur.

What happened in the first round?

In the first round of matches, India B defeated India A by 76 runs whereas India C defeated India D by 4 wickets. Musheer Khan scored a stunning 181 for India B while Akash Deep took 9 wickets in the match for India A. 

In the other match, Manav Suthar took seven wickets in the second inning to help India C win a low scoring match in Anantapur.

What does the points table look after the first round?

Round 2 matches

India A vs India D in Anantapur

India B vs India C in Anantapur.

Squads for Round 2

Since a lot of players were named in the India vs Bangladesh test series, BCCI revised the squads for the second round matches.

India A: Mayank Agarwal (C), Riyan Parag, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Tanush Kotian, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Kumar Kushagra, Shaswat Rawat, Pratham Singh, Akshay Wadkar, SK Rasheed, Shams Mulani, Aaqib Khan

India B: Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Sarfaraz Khan, Musheer Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, N Jagadeesan (WK), Suyash Prabhudessai, Rinku Singh, Himanshu Mantri (WK)

India C: Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Abishek Porel (WK), B Indrajith, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Gaurav Yadav, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Anshul Khamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markande, Aryan Juyal (WK), Sandeep Warrier

India D: Shreyas lyer (C), Atharva Taide, Yash Dubey, Devdutt Padikkal, Ricky Bhui, Saransh Jain, Arshdeep Singh, Aditya Thakare, Harshit Rana, Akash Sengupta, KS Bharat (WK), Saurabh Kumar, Sanju Samson (WK), Nishant Sindhu, Vidwath Kaverappa

Ishan Kishan started his return to the domestic season on a great note as the southpaw wicket-keeper batter took Jharkhand home against Madhya Pradesh in the ongoing Buchi Babu Tournament 2024 in Tamil Nadu.

Kishan, who had last played a first-class game back in 2023 against the West Indies, chose to opt out of the South Africa series due to mental fatigue. Ishan was made the captain of the Jharkhand team at the last minute as initially, he did not make himself available for the Buchi Babu tournament 2024.

Read Also | Duleep Trophy Squads: No Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma but Ravindra Jadeja and Ishan Kishan make a comeback 

Ishan Kishan scored a stunning 114 in the first inning

Madhya Pradesh scored 225 in the first inning while Jharkhand replied with 289 as captain Ishan Kishan scored a stunning 114 from 107 balls.

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Ankit Verma's 110 helped Madhya Pradesh put a fighting 238 in the second inning. Jharkhand needed only 174 to win the first game but faced some trouble to chase the target down. From 114-3, Jharkhand went to 162-8 but Ishan Kishan remained there to help his team go over the line.

With 12 needed, Kishan hit two humongous sixes against Akash Rajawat to take Jharkhand to victory. Kishan remained unbeaten on 41 from 58 balls.

Ishan Kishan is in outstanding form 🔥

1st innings: 114 (107)
2nd innings: 41* (58)#ishankishan #indiancricket #babuchallenge #jharkand #bcci #cricket pic.twitter.com/jv9E6a7ZzN

— Sportz Point (@sportz_point) August 18, 2024

The BCCI men's selection committee announced the squads for the first round of the 2024-25 Duleep Trophy on Wednesday. It will be the beginning of red-ball cricket in the domestic season. The tournament is set to begin on September 5, 2024, in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, and M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravichandran Ashwin have not been picked. Rinku Singh is also not part of the team.

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“The Men’s Selection Committee, on Wednesday announced the squads for the first round of the Duleep Trophy, 2024-25. The Duleep Trophy, which marks the beginning of red-ball cricket in the domestic season, will see some of the finest players from the international circuit and some of the young and emerging talent compete at the highest level,” the BCCI said in a release.

Shubman Gill, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shreyas lyer are the four captains of the four teams. 

Among the top India players who will feature in the first round of Duleep Trophy matches are - Riyan Parag, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant, Mohd Siraj, Suryakumar Yadav, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh. 

Duleep Trophy Squads:

• Team A: Shubman Gill (C), Mayank Agarwal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, KL Rahul, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Vidwath Kaverappa, Kumar Kushagra, Shaswat Rawat.
• Team B: Abhimanyu Easwaran (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant, Musheer Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy*, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Siraj, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, N Jagadeesan (WK).
• Team C: Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Abishek Porel (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, B Indrajith, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Umran Malik, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Anshul Khamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markande, Aryan Juyal (WK), Sandeep Warrier.
• Team D: Shreyas lyer (C), Atharva Taide, Yash Dubey, Devdutt Padikkal, Ishan Kishan (WK), Ricky Bhui, Saransh Jain, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Aditya Thakare, Harshit Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Sengupta, KS Bharat (WK), Saurabh Kumar.

“The athletes who will be selected to represent India for the home Test series against Bangladesh will be replaced in the Duleep Trophy,” BCCI said.

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

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.

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.

Read Also | "Mere Sath Kyun?.:" Ishan Kishan breaks silence on Team India exit and Central Contract termination 

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.

Ishan Kishan lost his place in the Indian team across all three formats, as well as a place in the BCCI central contract. Ishan took a break from India's tour of South Africa in December last year over mental fatigue and has since not returned to the team. He played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 with the Mumbai Indians but wasn't picked for the ongoing Zimbabwe tour.

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Ishan Kishan finally broke the silence in a chat with the Indian Express

When he was asked about the exit from the Indian team and the central contract, Ishan said: "I don't want to be sad about anything. I'll keep giving my best."

He said that the last few months were depressing as he could not understand why all this was happening to him.

"It was depressing. Today I don't want to say that everything was fine. It was not easy for me at all. You go through a lot. Mere dimag mey ye sab chalta raha ki yaar kya hoga gaya, kyu ho gaya, mere saath kyu. All these things happened when I was performing," he said.

Ishan also explained why we took the break.

"I was scoring runs and then I found myself on the bench. These things do happen in a team sport. However, I experienced travel fatigue. It meant there was something wrong, I was not feeling well or right and so I decided to take a break. However, sadly, barring my family and a few close people no one understood that."

"I took a break and I think it was normal. There is a rule that if you want to make a comeback you must perform in domestic cricket. It is as simple as that. Now, it was very different for me to play domestic cricket as it was not making any sense. I was not in a frame of mind to play and that is why I took a break from international cricket. It doesn't make sense that you take a break from international cricket and then you go and play domestic matches. Fir toh aap international hi khelte (Then I could have continued playing for India)," he concluded.