The fringe and aspiring bunch will look to own the elevated Duleep Trophy stage as the red-ball competition returns to its traditional zonal format in Bengaluru on Thursday. It marks the start of India's domestic cricket season.
Six zonal teams will take part in the competition, introduced in the 1960s.
The stakeholders were unhappy when the event was played among haphazardly arranged India A, B, C and D teams last season and expectedly reverted to the old format.
The tournament, which did not create much buzz earlier, has regained relevance with the BCCI making it mandatory for its star players to take part in domestic events if not on national duty or injured.
Shardul leads star-studded West Zone
Shardul Thakur, who was a part of India's Test squad in England, will captain the West Zone side that includes Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Iyer, who lost his place in the Indian red-ball team, will be looking to make a mountain of runs.
Same is the case for Sarfaraz, who was overlooked for the recent tour of England.
Not being picked for the Asia Cup T20 will provide an extra dose of motivation for Iyer, whose exclusion has divided opinions.
Jaiswal too was ignored from the Asia Cup squad despite no fault of his own.
His red-ball performances have been special for India, both at home and overseas, and he would be looking to rack up the runs in the middle to kickstart his season.
In the south zone squad, led by Tilak Varma, the focus will be on R Sai Kishore, who missed the Buchi Babu tournament due to a hand injury. The likes of K L Rahul and Sai Sudharsan will not feature in the tournament.
Devdutt Padikkal will return to action from an injury, and impactful performances may push him back into the national reckoning again. He made his debut against England last year before losing his place following the Australia tour.
Stoic Easwaran to lead East; eyes on Shami
Abhimanyu Easwaran, who warmed the bench for the entire England tour, will captain East Zone in the absence of an injured Ishan Kishan.
Understandably, Easwaran would be itching to get in the middle and pile on the runs after enduring his time on the sidelines in the UK.
Despite being part of the Indian squad on multiple occasions, Easwaran hasn’t made his debut and all he can do is continue amassing the runs like he has been in domestic cricket.
In the bowling department, Mohammed Shami's red ball fitness will be judged after he lost his place in the Test side due to lingering injury concerns.
The 34-year-old was not part of the tours of Australia and England and last played a Test in 2023. Only long spells and plenty of wickets can force the selectors to take note of the skillful operator, who seems to be past his prime.
Ankit Kumar expected to lead North in Shubman Gill's absence
Shubman Gill was picked to lead North Zone but is not available for the opening game due to a bout of illness. Vice-captain Ankit Kumar is expected to lead the side in Gill's absence.
The presence of India's new Test captain in the Duleep Trophy would have created a lot more interest in the tournament but he is unavailable for now.
Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana, two pacers who are a part of the Asia Cup squad, may probably play only in the opening game before linking up with the UAE-bound T20 squad.
Arshdeep sat out of all five Tests in England while someone like Anshul Kamboj was able to make his debut despite being a late addition to the squad.
The left-arm pacer is desperate to play Test cricket and for that he must perform when given an opportunity in domestic red-ball events.
Rana has dropped from the national selectors' radar in the longest format and therefore, he has enough reasons to push himself in his opening game for North Zone.
Dhruv Jurel and Rajat Patidar are the notable names in the Central Zone squad. Jurel's leadership skills will be judged in the tournament while Patidar will be aiming to force his way back into the national reckoning having lost his place in the side following a disastrous home series against England last year.
For the North-East zone squad, taking on the biggies of the game would be a massive challenge and a standout performance in this context would immediately attract attention.
Squads:
South Zone: Tilak Varma, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Tanmay Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohit Kale, Salman Nizar, Narayan Jagadeesan, Tripurana Vijay, R Sai Kishore, Tanay Thyagarajan, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Nidheesh MD, Ricky Bhui, Basil NP, Gurjapneet Singh, Snehal Kauthankar.
East Zone: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sandeep Patnaik, Virat Singh, Denish Das, Sridam Paul, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra, Riyan Parag, Utkarsh Singh, Manishi, Suraj Sindhu Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Shami.
West Zone: Shardul Thakur, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Aarya Desai, Harvik Desai (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jaymeet Patel, Manan Hingrajia, Saurabh Nawale (wicketkeeper), Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Dharmandrasinh Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Arzan Nagwaswala.
North Zone: Shubham Khajuria, Ankit Kumar, Ayush Badoni, Yash Dhull, Ankit Kalsi, Nishant Sandhu, Sahil Lotra, Mayank Dagar, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Anshul Kamboj, Auqib Nabi, Kanhaiya Wadhawan.
Central Zone: Dhruv Jurel, Rajat Patidar, Aryan Juyal, Danish Malewar, Sanjeet Desai, Kuldeep Yadav, Aditya Thakare, Deepak Chahar, Saransh Jain, Ayush Pandey, Shubham Sharma, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed.
North-East: Jonathan Rongsen, Akash Kumar Choudhary, Techi Doria, Yumnum Karnajit, Sedezhalie Rupero, Ashish Thapa, Hem Bahadur Chetri, Jehu Anderson, Arpit Subash Bhatewara, Pheroijam Jotin Singh, Palzor Tamang, Ankur Malik, Bishworjit Singh Konthoujam, Aryan Borah, Lamabam Ajay Singh.
Schedule:
August 28-31:
Quarter-final 1: North Zone vs East Zone, BCCI COE Ground 1, Bengaluru.
Quarter-final 2: Central Zone vs North East Zone, BCCI COE Ground 2, Bengaluru.
September 4-7:
Semi-final 1: South Zone vs Winner QF1, BCCI COE Ground 1, Bengaluru.
Semi-final 2: North Zone vs Winner QF2, BCCI COE Ground 2, Bengaluru.
September 11-15:
Final: Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2, BCCI COE Ground 1, Bengaluru.