Reports have emerged that India stars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma may play in this year's Duleep Trophy. But when did they last take part in the competition?
Ahead of India's upcoming home Test series against Bangladesh, it has been reported that several centrally-contracted players will take part in the Duleep Trophy, including the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. These reports have come following a push from the BCCI earlier this year for Test players to participate more regularly in domestic cricket.
Here is what happened the last time each of these players took part in the Duleep Trophy.
Rohit Sharma: 2016
Rohit's last Duleep Trophy match came in 2016, for India Blue against India Red in Noida. Still a middle-order bat for India in red-ball cricket at the time, he slotted in at No.4 as his side batted first. Mayank Agarwal and Gautam Gambhir opened the batting, with Cheteshwar Pujara at No.3.
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Both openers struck half-centuries, with Gambhir missing out on a hundred by six runs. Rohit walked in at 178-2 and scored 30 off 57 balls before being dismissed by Amit Mishra. Pujara went on to score an unbeaten 256, and keeper Sheldon Jackson hit 134 to help India Blue post 693-6.
India Red were then bowled out for 356, thanks in large part to Ravindra Jadeja's 5-95. In India Blue's second innings, Rohit batted at No.3 and hit 32 off 75 balls as the side declared at 179-5. Jadeja then took another five-wicket haul in the fourth innings, bowling India Blue to a 355-run victory.
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Virat Kohli: 2010
The last time Virat Kohli played in the Duleep Trophy, he was yet to play a Test match for India. In the 2010 semifinal, he represented North Zone against West Zone (which had Rohit Sharma in the lineup). West Zone batted first and scored 769, thanks to a double century from Abhishek Nayar and a century from Ramesh Powar.
Kohli batted at No.4 and top-scored for North Zone with a run-a-ball 56 as they were bowled out for 294. In West Zone's second innings, centuries from Rohit and Pujara helped them bat out the rest of the time and declare at 345-7, drawing the match.
Kohli also bowled in this match, sending down seven overs for 39 in West Zone's first innings and two overs for 17 in their second go.
How did India's other prominent players fare in their last Duleep Trophy outings?
R Ashwin played in the 2010 semifinal for South Zone against Central Zone. He excelled with the bat, scoring 58 & 59*, batting in the lower order. With the ball, he went wicketless in the first innings, but took 6-67 in the second.
Jasprit Bumrah has played only one Duleep Trophy match, for India Green against India Blue in 2016. He opened the bowling in the first innings, and took 1-108. In the third innings, Bumrah bowled just eight overs, going wicketless and conceding 24 runs.
Shubman Gill played in the Duleep Trophy in 2019, for India Blue. He only batted once, at No.3 in the second innings of the match, scoring just 9. He sent down five overs in India Red's second innings, conceding 27 runs.
A regular on the domestic circuit, Suryakumar Yadav played the Duleep Trophy as recently as 2023. He played for West Zone against South Zone but had a poor outing with scores of eight and four as his side slipped to a 75-run defeat.
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