KL Rahul will not be a part of the playing 11 in the final of the Duleep Trophy against the East Zone at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, Tilak Varma, the South Zone captain, has announced.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan and Mohammed Shami will be a potent attacking arm for East Zone who will face South Zone in clash at the top on Sunday.
It is said the selection committee called for Rahul, Mohammed Siraj and Devdutt Padikkal to play in the Duleep Trophy final. But in the pre-match press conference with reporters on Saturday, Tilak stated that Rahul does not form a part of the South Zone team in Chennai.
Tilak addressed the reporters explaining that “KL bhai isn’t around.”
Rahul will miss off the final engagement while Siraj and Padikkal will now be in the South Zone squad. The addition also brings additional experience and quality to the team ahead of the vital red-ball match.
Tilak, Ishan Kishan and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi are likely to make their return to the Indian side as they finish their duties for Duleep Trophy. The three will be heading to New Delhi ahead of India’s next three match T20I series against Afghanistan.
The T20I series will kick off in September 13 in Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi.
After it was reported that the Duleep Trophy final would be a limps-in tie between three players, Tilak, Kishan and Sooryavanshi, their presence was earlier questioned, pending on India head coach Gautam Gambhir’s decision.
Now the decision makers have decided to let the players play for their own teams in the domestic competition and then go to the national camp.
The players are thus bound to get a valuable red-ball assignment with Duleep Trophy final before they resume their India T20I focus against Afghanistan.