BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said in a media interaction on Wednesday that India stars Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli should not be insisted to play the Duleep Trophy.

BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said in a media interaction on Wednesday (August 14) that India stars Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli should not be insisted to play the Duleep Trophy.

The squads for the first round of four-team Duleep Trophy were announced on Wednesday afternoon as the competition moved away from the zonal system for the first time in four years. As the curtain-raiser to the Indian domestic season and a precursor to their home Test series against Bangladesh, the squads for the tournament featured several prominent national team players.

The likes of Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Axar Patel, and Shreyas Iyer are all set to play. Ishan Kishan was also named, making his return to domestic cricket following his break from the sport at the start of this calendar year.

BCCI Secretary on Rohit and Kohli - 'They will risk injury'

Two players not named in any of the squads were captain Rohit Sharma and former captain Virat Kohli. There had been speculation over the last couple of weeks that the pair would participate in the Duleep Trophy as the BCCI sought to encourage national team players to take part in domestic cricket.

BCCI secretary Jay Shah was asked about their exclusion during an interaction with the media in Mumbai. "We should not insist on players like Rohit and Virat to play in the Duleep Trophy," said Shah. "They will risk injury. If you have noticed, in Australia and England, every international player does not play domestic cricket. We have to treat the players with respect."

Shah added that it was a good sign that other national team players were involved in the domestic game: "Apart from them, everyone else is playing. You should appreciate that. One must note that Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer are playing in the Buchi Babu tournament."

On the matter of national team personnel, he elaborated on why India had not opted for a split-coaching model. Gautam Gambhir, the current coach, was open to coaching all three formats, he explained. And in case of any issue, coaches from the National Cricket Academy (NCA) could step up from time to time.

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