Duleep Trophy: How Did the Non-Selected Indian Stars Perform

The selection for the West Indies tour prior to the Duleep Trophy left a lot wondering on the direction of the Indian Team. They left out some big stars coming into the tour with Cheteshwar Pujara and Suryakumar Yadav dropped while Sarfaraz Khan, who has been churning the big score endlessly and Abhimanyu Easwaran, another domestic superstar has missed out.

Both Sarfaraz and Easwaran have not found too many takers with the Indian Team while India finally may be moving on from Pujara, who has been a fixture in the line-up at number three for the last 13 years. Suryakumar Yadav though may not have things as easy. He got a chance to play one Test, did not do much or get much of an opportunity to make a mark, and was left out later. Now, with Rahane back as vice-captain, the road back for Suryakumar looks a lot longer.

The Duleep Trophy though gave the four batters an opportunity to push a claim for themselves. Abhimanyu though could not make a mark with 11 runs across two innings as he was undone by some good bowling. Sarfaraz too after scoring loads of runs again proved vulnerable against quality bowing in the Duleep Trophy, He fell without scoring much to the short ball and will also be waiting for a chance to stake another claim.

Pujara, recently dropped from the Test squad again, decided to challenge himself in the Duleep Trophy. He found some runs getting back to the grind and making a second innings century, and will have an opportunity to continue to score runs as he goes back to England to continue his County commitments with Sussex.

Suryakumar Yadav, dropped after one Test and a lot of time around the squad once again proved to be a sticky candidate for hte long game. He was out nicking to slips for a low score and it will be interesting to see what the immediate future holds for him too.