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Ishan Kishan’s comeback to red-ball cricket is gaining momentum as he is included in the Rest of India team captained by Ruturaj Gaikwad for the Irani Cup, which takes place in Lucknow from October 1–5.
Kishan recently scored a century for India C in the Duleep Trophy, marking his first first-class cricket appearance since July 2023—a time significant for the loss of his BCCI central contract.
In case Dhruv Jurel is not included in the starting XI for India’s second Test match against Bangladesh, which is scheduled to take place in Kanpur from September 27 to October 1, Kishan is one of the two wicketkeepers in the squad.
The similar warning has been applied to the selection of middle-order batsman Sarfaraz Khan and left-arm quick Yash Dayal, who are both members of the Test team, in the Mumbai and RoI teams.
One conspicuous absence from the RoI team is Mohammed Shami. As Shami hasn’t participated in a competitive cricket match since the World Cup, he was expected to play in a minimum of one Duleep Trophy match to demonstrate his fitness for the game. It appears that he will not be joining the RoI squad, and his return will be further delayed.
As he recovers from an ankle surgery, Shami is eager to spend more time in recovery. The fast bowler from India is eager to gradually acclimatise to the demands of playing in the top division of cricket when the Ranji Trophy kicks off on October 11. Bengal has included him in their season-long probables list.
As many as four frontline openers are included in the RoI squad: skipper Gaikwad; Abhimanyu Easwaran, who finished second in the just concluded Duleep Trophy in terms of run scoring; Devdutt Padikkal; and B Sai Sudharsan.
But lately, Padikkal and Sai Sudharsan have seized the chance to work in the middle order. In his Test debut against England earlier this year in Dharamsala, Padikkal batted at No. 4.
Ricky Bhui of Andhra and Shashwat Rawat of Baroda have been recognised for their Duleep Trophy performances. With two hundreds and a half-century, Bhui top-scored with 359 runs at an average of 71.80, while Rawat is coming off of scores of 124 and 53 in his most recent India A match.
With Prasidh Krishna, who recently returned from a quadriceps injury in the Duleep Trophy, Mukesh Kumar, and two left-arm quicks in Dayal and Khaleel Ahmed, RoI has assembled a potent pace assault. The spinners are Rahul Chahar, Saransh Jain, and Manav Suthar.
Ajinkya Rahane will captain a fully-fit Mumbai team that also includes Sarfaraz, Prithvi Shaw, and Shreyas Iyer. Rahane is returning from a consistent schedule of playing County Championship red-ball cricket for Leicestershire. The Indian all-rounder Shardul Thakur has also made a comeback; he is healthy again after having foot surgery in June.
The match was originally to be held in Mumbai, but was moved out of the city due to the possibility of weather-related interruptions owing to the monsoons.