Veteran Indian wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha has voluntarily withdrawn from selection for the upcoming Duleep Trophy, feeling that the tournament is intended for hopefuls to the national team. Saha was informed by the team management that a young player will be tested in his position. After Rishabh Pant’s recent car accident, India is on the hunt for a wicketkeeper-batsman, although they are moving on from Wriddhiman Saha. India A captain Abhimanyu Easwaran will lead the side, with former India spinner Shahbaz Nadeem as his deputy.
Saha informed his selector Jayanta Dey to opt for young players in the Duleep Trophy squad instead of him seeing as he has few prospects of playing for India again. Saha said, To be fair, the Duleep Trophy is for India hopefuls. If I am never going to play for India again, then it wouldn’t make sense to prevent youngsters from making a case. Hence, we selected Abhishek Porel, who was the third choice.
The East Zone selectors were astounded when they learned that Ishan Kishan chose not to play in the first-class tournament just before the two-match series in the Caribbean on July 12. As he is a senior India regular in white ball, he would have got the captaincy. Chakraborty got in touch with Ishan over the phone and came back and told us that he is not interested in playing Duleep Trophy. We were not told if he has an injury or not. Just that he doesn’t want to play, a selector mentioned.
Squad: A Easwaran (capt), Santanu Mishra, Sudip Gharami, Riyan Parag, A. Majumdar, Bipin Saurabh, A Porel (wk), K Kushagra (wk), S Nadeem (vc), Shahbaz Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Anukul Roy, M Mura Singh, Ishan Porel.
