Sanjay Manjrekar Questions Rohit, Kohli and Bumrah Exclusion From Duleep Trophy, Says 'I See Them as Well-Rested Players'

As the 2024 edition of the Duleep Trophy approaches, many Indian cricket fans will be disappointed that they will not be able to see senior stars like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah on the Indian domestic scene.

The former Indian cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar believes that the Indian trio could have taken part in the domestic tournament. He revealed some interesting stats which indicated that the three men have had more than enough rest regularly to be included in the tournament comprising of some of the senior team stars, hopefuls and possible prospects.

In a post on Manjrekar’s official handle on X (formerly known as Twitter), the former Indian batter said, “India has played 249 international matches in the last 5 years. Rohit has played only 59% of those. Virat 61 % & Bumrah 34%. I see them as well-rested India players. Could have been selected for the Duleep trophy”.

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The trio are key members of the Indian team across all three formats. The selectors have likely opted against their participation considering the international games coming up with the headline event being the Border-Gavaskar Trophy set to take place in November, later this year.

But Manjrekar does not see it that way and wants to see the three take part in the domestic tournament. It is to be noted that the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are coming to their final chapters in their career while Bumrah being India’s most prized asset in the bowling department has had his fair share of injury concerns, thus opting to manage his workload.

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Earlier the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had released the mandate that those who are not on national duty would be expected to take part in domestic cricket. This would have led to the expectations that the quality within India’s domestic scene would increase after seeing international stars representing their states, but that might not be the case for the moment when it comes to the senior Indian players.

India’s next assignment will be their two-match Test series against Bangladesh which is set to take place in Chennai and Kanpur respectively. This would be followed by the three-match T20I series. The Indian team will also take on New Zealand at home followed by their tour to Australia to defend the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024.