The 2024-25 Indian domestic cricket season will begin with the Duleep Trophy, set to begin from Thursday, September 05.
The tournament will be held in a new avatar, with the zonal system being replaced with India A, B, C, and D, who will compete in a round-robin format that will not include any knockout games.
India B, skippered by opening batter Abhimanyu Easwaran, will open its campaign against Shubman Gill’s India A at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
ALSO READ | India A Predicted XI vs India B; full squad, list of players for Shubman Gill-led team
The side will be without the services of India pacer Mohammed Siraj and veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who has been released from the squad. Navdeep Saini has replaced Siraj in the team, while no replacement was announced for Jadeja.
Easwaran is likely to open alongside rising India star Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had a record-breaking Test series against England this year. The match will also mark the return of wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant to red-ball cricket.
Sarfaraz Khan and his younger brother Musheer will form the spine of the middle-order for India B, much like what the duo has been doing for Mumbai on the domestic circuit.
Though India B’s pace stocks aren’t as formidable as India A’s, its strong line-up of spinners, comprising Washington Sundar, R. Sai Kishore, and Rahul Chahar, will be a handful.
INDIA B PREDICTED XI VS INDIA A
Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Musheer Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, R. Sai Kishore, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini.
INDIA B FULL SQUAD
Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Musheer Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Yash Dayal, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R. Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, N. Jagadeesan (wk).
