Duleep Trophy: Chance for established and aspirants to underline red ball credentials

latest edition of grand opera that is Indian domestic season will begin here on Wednesday with Duleep Trophy, giving experienced and aspirants a chance to reemphasize ir red ball chops.

In quarterfinals, Central Zone will face East Zone at Alur while rth Zone will look to tame rth East Zone at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

winners will have a face-off with West Zone and South Zone, direct entrants into last four st as champions and finalists respectively last season, early next month.

While immediate aim of teams remains advancing deep into kckouts, selectors will cast a keen eye on performance of some fresh names over next fortnight as India gradually move into transition phase.

It is clear that India will need more choices to look into as y embrace a new WTC cycle next month with tour to West Indies and Duleep Trophy is a good platform to add a few to list.

Rinku Singh might t be a fresh name, courtesy his IPL exploits for Kolkata Knight Riders but as far as red ball cricket is concerned UP left-hander still offers a bit of unfamiliarity.

But his body of work in longer format is absolutely stunning. Rinku, who will be seen in line-up of Central Zone, had amassed 442 runs from 7 Ranji Trophy matches last season, averaging over 62.

His overall first-class record too is among best of current times – 2875 runs from 40 matches at 59.89 with 7 hundreds and 19 fifties. If Rinku can replicate that performance here n India might just have ar exciting option to consider in future.

n we have Abhimanyu Easwaran to watch out for. East Zone captain is one of oldest members among contenders in batting. At 27, Bengal batsman is a consistent performer in domestic circles and for India A.

Having made his debut back in 2013, Easwaran has 6556 runs from 87 first-class matches and he will be eyeing some big games here to back his claim for a spot in India whites.

Among bowlers too, re are a number of claimants for an India spot.

29-year-old Mukesh Kumar, who has already made his India cut, features prominently in list of players who could carry country's pace fortunes into future, a reputation that is built on some solid stats in domestic circuit.

In 2022-23 Ranji Trophy season, Mukesh had bagged 22 wickets from 5 matches while forming a formidable trio along with Akash Deep and Ishan Porel for Bengal.

Mukesh remains a consistent performer in India A matches as well, grabbing 18 wickets so far at a creditable aver of 17.5. He will be er to fine tune his skills before leaving for West Indies for Test and ODI tours.

Avesh Khan's outing too will be watched from close quarters as Madhya Pradesh right-arm pacer had 38 scalps from 8 Ranji Trophy matches in previous season.

Apart from obvious contenders, tournament is also a chance for fringe names such as Shivam Mavi, who will lead Central Zone, Akash Deep and Porel to keep mselves in mix.

Heftier names such as Cheteshwar Pujara, Suryakumar Yadav, Hanuma Vihari, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar etc will join caravan next month, brimming with priorities of varying proportions.

But until y add more gravitas to tournament, it's time to focus on possible mantle holders of future.

Matches (June 28-July 1): rth Zone vs rth East Zone, Chinnaswamy Stadium; Central Zone vs East Zone, Alur. Matches start at 9.30 AM.