Duleep Trophy endures, even as stars and fans drift away

Just a couple of months before V.V.S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid stunned the world with their 376-run fifth-wicket stand against Australia at Eden Gardens in 2001, the duo engaged in a dress rehearsal.

The preview show came in Surat, where Laxman and Dravid added 409 runs for the third wicket in a Duleep Trophy match between South Zone and West Zone.

At that time, the Duleep Trophy still attracted household names, as reflected in the team lists. Apart from Laxman and Dravid, South boasted several internationals — Sadagoppan Ramesh, Sunil Joshi, S. Sriram, Hemang Badani and Venkatapathy Raju, to name a few.

West, too, fielded a formidable eleven, with the likes of Wasim Jaffer, Vinod Kambli, Nayan Mongia, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Ajit Agarkar taking the field with pride.

Such stellar line-ups were commonplace, for the Duleep Trophy held tremendous value. For fringe players, it was the gateway to an India call-up; for established internationals, it provided the perfect competitive match practice.

The sheen fades

Cut to the present, and the scenario is vastly different. The 2025-26 edition, held this month at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) grounds in Bengaluru, lacked sheen and purpose.

Many India stars skipped the tournament in preparation for the T20 Asia Cup, currently underway in the UAE. Others, like Arshdeep Singh and Kuldeep Yadav, played the opening round before being summoned to the national camp.

Shubman Gill, the Test captain, was named North Zone skipper but pulled out due to illness.

South Zone was without Mohammed Siraj, K.L. Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Prasidh Krishna and Washington Sundar. With no official explanation given, the general belief was that they had been rested.

The venue, used in senior domestic competition for the first time, was far from ideal. Located on the outskirts of the city, the ground was out of bounds for spectators. Several cricket fans working in nearby factories and warehouses turned up in support but were denied entry by security staff.

Lack of atmosphere

The BCCI must address this urgently, as keeping fans away robs the sport of a core element.

As a result, matches were played in silence, without the usual cheers and buzz. Apart from the final, no matches were telecast live, further deflating the tournament’s presence.

The pitches across both grounds were absolute batting belters, reducing contests to mammoth run-scoring exercises.

Even the final, between eventual champion Central Zone and South Zone, lost some shine when six players were withdrawn after being named in the India ‘A’ squad to face Australia ‘A’.

South lost N. Jagadeesan and Devdutt Padikkal, while Central was without Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Thakur, Harsh Dubey and Manav Suthar.

Thanks to India’s vast talent pool, replacements were not hard to find. One such was Ankit Sharma, drafted into the South squad for the final. The left-handed all-rounder made his senior debut for Madhya Pradesh in 2009 and even shared a dressing room with Dale Steyn, Kumar Sangakkara and Shikhar Dhawan at now-defunct Deccan Chargers in the 2012 IPL.

Now 34 and representing Puducherry, Ankit has long been away from the IPL spotlight. Yet his performance in the final showed his career is far from over.

He produced a fighting 168-ball 99, rescuing South from a precarious situation, and also claimed six wickets across two innings with his steady left-arm spin, albeit in a losing cause.

Ankit shone in a brilliant 192-run partnership with Andre Siddarth, another late South Zone replacement. The Tamil Nadu youngster displayed admirable temperament in his unbeaten 84 under mounting pressure.

Making a mark

Saransh Jain, meanwhile, seized his chance to impress national selectors. With 16 wickets and two handy fifties, the Central all-rounder was named ‘Player of the Series’.

Saransh is a rarity in Indian First-Class cricket — a spinner who can consistently land the ball on a good line and length. The 32-year-old from Madhya Pradesh tested batters with discipline and often came out on top.

His teammate Kumar Kartikeya also made a statement in the final. The versatile left-arm spinner, capable of bowling both orthodox and wrist spin depending on the match-up, had been overlooked for the earlier rounds, as well as the past two seasons. A match-winning eight-wicket haul, achieved with clever flight and variation, was a timely reminder of his class.

Whether Ankit, Andre, Saransh and Kartikeya are rewarded with bigger roles remains to be seen.

South coach and former India pacer L. Balaji, however, underlined the tournament’s enduring significance. Balaji recalled that he made his India comeback on the strength of Duleep Trophy performances.

The 43-year-old was emphatic: “The international and domestic schedules are packed nowadays. We also have State leagues. But still players are giving it their maximum to play here. The Duleep Trophy has been one of the major tournaments. The recognition for the Duleep Trophy has always been high. It is an iconic tournament. Good performances here can earn a place in the India ‘A’ team. In fact, I made my India comeback in 2005 after taking wickets in the Duleep Trophy. So I am sure that the Duleep Trophy will get the recognition it deserves,” Balaji said.

Published on Sep 20, 2025