The BCCI on Thursday announced the squads for the historic Duleep Trophy 2016 which will be played under the lights with a pink ball. The tournament will be a crucial juncture to try out the pink ball in Indian conditions and with Mohammed Shami already creating havoc on the first occasion in Kolkata, expectations are at bay.
The tournament which is slated to start on the 23rd of this month will go on till the September 14th and will be played in Greater Noida.
Three teams, namely India Blue, Green and Red will be feature in a round robin format with each game lasting four days and beginning at 2pm IST. The final however will be a five day affair and will start on the 10th of September.
All rounder Yuvraj Singh will lead the India read squad. Fellow Punjabi Gurkeerat Singh also features in the list along with Rajasthani pace sensation Nathu Singh. Bengal youngster Sudeep Chatterjee also features in the list along with state mate Abhimanyu Mithun. M Ashwin who had an impressive IPL season also makes it to the cut.
Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir leads the India blue squad along with Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik. They will be assisted by formidable Cheteshwar Pujara along with Kashmiri sensation Pervez Rasool and Sheldon Jackson. The Mohit Sharma let bowling attack of India Blue also features Assam pacer Krishna Das, who created havoc last Ranji Season.
Suresh Raina would lead the India Green side with dashing Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Murli Vijay and Harbhajan Singh. Parthiv Patel will be behind the stumps while Ashok Dinda, Jaspreet Bumbrah and Sandeep Sharma will lead the blowing front. Ankit Rajpoot who drew quite a few eye balls during the IPL auction also makes the cut for India Green.
One note able names missing are last year’s Ranji top scorer Shreyas Iyer and Irani Trophy winning captian Naman Ojha. Naman is travelling India A team which is touring Australia. He is captaining them in the 2 FC matches they are playing from September 8. He is also in the side for quadrangular series which starting from 13th and will play their first match on Aug 14 (NPS, AUS, RSA the other teams). Shreyas Iyer is also in both the squads. According to ESPN Cricinfo, there are possibilities of the likes of Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and R Ashwin joining the tournament after they're back from the tour of West Indies and USA.
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