In years gone by, a place in the Duleep Trophy was highly coveted. It meant the individual concerned was one step closer to making it to the Indian Test side. Played on a zonal basis, it brought the best talent in the country – established and promising – on a single platform, allowing them to pit their wares against each other and thereby giving the selectors the wonderful opportunity to separate the men from the boys, in a manner of speaking.

Gradually, as India’s international engagements started to mount and the established Test players were either away on national duty or recharging their batteries for the challenges ahead, the tournament began to lose its sheen. Over time, it became almost a formality, even scrapped from the 2017-18 domestic calendar.

All that will change, come Thursday, when the four-day tournament will officially kick off the Indian domestic first-class season in Bengaluru and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh. And while it might not be played on the popular zonal format, there is greater context and gravitas this time around, not least because India play the first of ten Tests over the next four months in Chennai from September 19, against Bangladesh.

After what seems like an eternity, almost the entire cream of Indian cricket will be in action during the first round of matches, involving the unimaginatively named India A, B, C and D outfits. When the squads were originally announced on August 14 by the national selectors – in an evident break from the norm – the only four players who could have played but were given leave of absence were Test and ODI skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and R Ashwin. Subsequently, Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja too have been rested for different reasons; Mohammed Shami is still recuperating from surgery and Suryakumar Yadav, and Ishan Kishan will miss the first round after picking up injuries in the Buchi Babu tournament last week, but otherwise, the Who’s Who of Indian cricket will line up to parade their wares with the selection of the team for the two Bangladesh Tests imminent.

The battle is, at best, for a couple of places, with most others picking themselves on pedigree, recent form and reputation. India’s last Test assignment was as far back as in March, when they routed England in Dharamsala by an innings to complete a rousing come-from-behind 4-1 victory. After that, there has only been a steady diet of limited-overs cricket, headlined by the stirring triumph in the T20 World Cup in June. As such, the decision-makers will draw from the past though they will also keep a keen eye on a few players that have been on their radar for a while now and who will have a big role to play in the near future as India edge towards an inevitable period of transition.

Test middle order, spin future in focus

One of the key areas of focus for Ajit Agarkar and his five-man panel – restored to full strength following the induction on Tuesday of former stumper Ajay Ratra – will be the spin department. For more than a decade, India have ridden on the brilliance of Ashwin and Jadeja, later complemented by Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, to stack up an outstanding record at home. But Ashwin will turn 38 later this month and Jadeja will celebrate his 36th birthday in December; much as both, and their fans, would want them to go on forever, time is not a professional sportsperson’s ally and therefore the net must be cast far and wide to find those that can step into the massive void whenever that is created.

A plethora of white-ball spinners dot the Indian landscape but the same can’t be said when it comes to the longer version. No one has really stepped up and pocketed a bushel of wickets season after season; Tamil Nadu skipper R Sai Kishore, a strapping left-armer, might disagree as he points to 53 wickets in the last Ranji Trophy season and he is a terrific spinner, without a doubt, but this will be a huge season for the 27-year-old as he aspires to build on three T20I appearances, at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last October.

There is a logjam in the Test middle order with the imminent return of Kohli and KL Rahul – the former missed the entire England series and the latter was injured for the last four games – which will necessitate sustained consistency from the likes of Sarfaraz Khan, Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel, who all debuted with success in the said series. And then, there is Rishabh Pant, primed for his first first-class fixture since December 2022. This Duleep Trophy, it promises everything, doesn’t it?