3 major takeaways from Duleep Trophy 2024 ft. Pacers' unparalleled dominance

As Team India and its fans celebrated a comprehensive first Test win over Bangladesh, several budding and established stars were showcasing their skills one final time in the 2024 Duldeep Trophy. The tournament's third and final round happened simultaneously with the India-Bangladesh Chennai Test.

India A, led by opener Mayank Agarwal, came out triumphant with a 132-run win over India C to finish atop the points table and clinch the 2024 Duleep Trophy title.

The competitive nature of the tournament was reflected by the fact that India C, B, and D, finishing second, third, and fourth, were only separated by three points.

Yet, beyond the teams' wins and losses, the Duleep Trophy provided a few key takeaways in isolation concerning some players and in connection with the Indian Test side.

While there were several micro and macro takeaways, here are the three major ones from the 2024 Duleep Trophy.

# 1 Pacers' party like never before

While the start of the red-ball season during the Indian monsoon does offer the pacers more assistance than the international matches in the country, the 2024 Duleep Trophy was a pacers' delight even by those standards.

The top four wicket-takers - Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, and Arshdeep Singh were all pacers and the only ones who finished with over 10 wickets in the tournament. For context, left-arm spinners Saurabh Kumar and Sai Kishore led the way with 16 and 17 wickets in the previous two Duldeep Trophy editions.

While only three out of the top 10 leading wicket-takers were pacers in the 2022/23 Duleep Trophy, the number rose to six last year. However, seven of the top 10 wicket-takers were pacers in the 2024 edition.

Furthermore, there were only two spinners - Rahul Chahar and Tanush Kotian in the top 10 for best bowling averages in the 2024 Duleep Trophy, with the other eight being pacers.

It is yet another demonstration of the increasingly massive pool of highly skilled pacers coming up the ranks in India - a welcome sign for a team looking to dominate in SENA conditions under new head coach Gautam Gambhir.

As for the near future, any worries the management has about their upcoming marquee tour of Australia with the injury concern to Mohammed Shami must have been put to bed with the pacers' dominant showing in the Duleep Trophy.

# 2 Impact of Duleep Trophy was felt in India-Bangladesh 1st Test

If ever there was any doubt about the importance and impact of the Duleep Trophy, the first India-Bangladesh Test settled those. Let us think about the frontline Indian batters who participated in Round 1 of the tournament and those who didn't.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, and KL Rahul played the opening round leading up to the first Bangladesh Test. Facing the best domestic bowlers and getting into the red-ball rhythm proved pivotal as three of the four hit the ground running immidiately to start India's Test season.

While Jaiswal scored a crucial 56 under tricky conditions in the first innings, Gill and Pant smashed match-winning centuries in India's second essay. Even Rahul scored 16 and 22* in the Bangladesh clash at Chennai.

Meanwhile, the legendary duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli did not feature in the Duleep Trophy and came into the first Test having not played red-ball cricket since the England series early in the year. The result was 34 runs between them at an average of under 9 with Kohli's 17 in the second innings the highest score.

With BCCI pressing hard for the Indian internationals to play domestic cricket during the off-time, such results as evidence will act as the ideal instigation for all the star Indian players to participate in future Ranji and Duldeep Trophies.

# 3 Ricky Bhui's dream run in Red-ball cricket should not go unnoticed

Andhra's Ricky Bhui has been flying under the radar when it comes to fringe batters in domestic cricket, with the likes of Abhimanyu Easwaran, Baba Indrajith and Sai Sudharsan, among others hogging the limelight.

Yet, playing for a struggling India D side in the 2024 Duleep Trophy, the 27-year-old finished as the tournament's leading run-scorer with 359 runs at an average of 71.80, including two centuries in three outings.

This wasn't just a flash in the pan as Bhui was also the leading run-getter in the previous Ranji Trophy with 902 runs at an average of 75.16, including four centuries in eight matches.

Such Bradmaneque consistency, even if not immidiately rewarded, must at least garner its due recognition.

What makes Bhui's performances, especially in this Duleep Trophy, further impressive is the challenging nature of the pitches and his side India D not even scoring 350 once in six innings.