Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar argued that India Test captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and pacer Jasprit Bumrah could have featured in the season-opening Duleep Trophy.
India will head into a long season of red-ball cricket with 10 Tests, starting September 19. They will host Bangladesh and New Zealand for five Tests before gearing up for a historic five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour to Australia in November.
However, Rohit and Kohli will head into the Test season with limited red-ball game time, having opted to skip the first round of the Duleep Trophy that begins on September 5 in Bengaluru and Anantapur.
Rohit led India in their 4-1 Test series win against England in early March while Kohli last featured in a Test in South Africa in January. Meanwhile, Bumrah has been given an extended break since India's T20 World Cup win and skipped the subsequent Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka tours.
India's batting against spin came under the scanner in the Sri Lanka ODIs after suffering their first defeat against the hosts in 27 years. The Men in Blue lost 28 of their 30 wickets in the series to tweakers.
"India has played 249 international matches (since Aug 1, 2019) 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," Manjrekar reasoned as he wrote on X.
While Bumrah may also skip the Bangladesh series, Rohit and Kohli will be integral to build India's World Test Championship standings before the Australia tour.
India are slated to play 15 Tests by August 2025, excluding the WTC final. Barring Rohit and Kohli, a host of India's first-choice Test players are slated to feature in the Duleep Trophy, representing four teams.
Fast bowler Mohammed Siraj and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja were omitted from the first round of the tournament on Tuesday.
