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The ZR Irani Cup, to be played from October 1 at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow this year, is one of the best short competitions in India. The Duleep Trophy winners go head-to-head against the best performers from the other teams.
It brings 30 of India's best red-ball cricketers -- behind the national 15 -- of a particular year under one roof and makes them battle it out. Thus, the level goes one higher than the Duleep Trophy and is almost the second-best red-ball cricket to watch in the country after an international Test match.
Performing here means more for the players as well as the selectors. This, in turn, creates an interesting dynamic of extreme competition among teammates.
This year, the winning team was India 'A' who beat India 'C' in the dying minutes of the final round to clinch the title. Although India 'C' were in the running for a well-earned draw for most of the match, India 'A''s dominance in the match and the two games before it made them the deserving champions.
The BCCI has picked up a strong, robust squad for this year's Rest of India team to compete against them:
Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Abhimanyu Easwaran (VC), Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ishan Kishan (wk), Manav Suthar, Saransh Jain, Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar, Yash Dayal, Ricky Bhui, Shashwat Rawat, Khaleel Ahmed, and Rahul Chahar.
Below, we have tried to pick what, in our opinion, is the best 11. Check it out, and do let us know in the comments if you would make any changes to it!
Top-order: Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Abhimanyu Easwaran (VC) and Devdutt Padikkal
The openers are the easy picks because the captain and the vice-captain will take the two spots. Abhimanyu Easwaran was stellar in the Duleep Trophy, scoring the second-highest 309 runs in five innings, including two big hundreds. In the first, a 157*, he carried his bat as the opener, scoring almost 50 percent of his team's runs.
Ruturaj Gaikwad, on the other hand, played an innings more and scored 232 runs but failed to convert two half-centuries and two 40-odd innings into big ones. His captaincy was impressive though as he seemed to be doing the basic things right.
Both he and Easwaran have been on the periphery of the Indian Test team for a while and would want to support and better each other to take a big step towards a debut. A big partnership between them would make things tricky for the selectors.
One man who has already made his India Test debut is Devdutt Padikkal, who has 65 runs for India to his name. Nothing would be on his mind other than a comeback to the top flight, with a brilliant Ranji Trophy and now a 202-run (six innings) Duleep Trophy making his case quite strong.
He's one of the best left-handed stroke players in the country and revels under pressure, like in the Duleep Trophy for India 'D'. He'll likely bat at number three in this game to offer a break from the two top-order right-handers.
Middle-order: Ricky Bhui, Dhruv Jurel (wk) and Shashwat Rawat
Ricky Bhui is quite close to the statistical treble of Indian red-ball cricket. He was the highest run-scorer in the last Ranji Trophy and now backed that up with a chart-topping 359 runs in six innings in the 2024 Duleep Trophy. Across the two competitions, the Vidarbha man has six tons, most of them in difficult conditions.
He'd be the steel of this line-up's spine, following up two free-flowing players in Gaikwad and Padikkal. The best aspect of his batting: the ability to play in any gear would probably be at full show. If successful in impressive in a third straight tournament, he might be too good to ignore for the BCCI selectors.
The two youngsters behind him are as good. Dhruv Jurel, who is India's second-choice 'keeper after his impressive knocks against England, would be the first-choice with the gloves for this lineup, though his participation is subject to Gautam Gambhir not choosing him for the second Test against Bangladesh.
If Jurel isn't available, Ishan Kishan, who scored 111 against India 'B' on his top-level red-ball comeback in the second round, could be slotted in.
And finally, Shashwat Rawat would be the number six. The 23-year-old Baroda man was probably the find of the Duleep Trophy, smashing the third-highest 256 runs in just four innings. His exploits included a Player of the Match double of 124 and 53 in the final match which led India 'A' to the title.
The fact that he has been selected in the Rest of India squad despite being one of India 'A''s best players, suggests that he's likely to get into the 11 here. The stocky batter is a delight to watch when he's on song, hitting drives down the ground and this game might help him announce himself to a wider audience of admirers.
Lower-order and bowlers: Manav Suthar, Rahul Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar and Yash Dayal
We have gone with three pacers and two spinners for this 11. The final combination would depend on the pitch conditions in Lucknow.
The two spinners also form the lower batting order of this team: Manav Suthar and Rahul Chahar. Suthar has been touted as the next in line for India's Test side based on his accurate bowling and brilliant variations of pace and angles.
He took 10 wickets in five innings in the Duleep Trophy, on mostly placid wickets for spin bowling, including a seven-fer in the first match against India 'D'. More impressively, he scored a brilliant 82 against India 'B' in the second. He's developing into a proper all-rounder and this would be the next big step.
Rahul Chahar, who was impressive with nine wickets in just four innings, would be the aggressive support to Suthar. He bowled at a brilliant average of 18.66 and showed a lot of improvement from the recent white-ball tournaments.
He's not an all-rounder per se, but has worked a ton on his batting in recent years and can hit it long and deep or hold his own in tough conditions.
Prasidh Krishna with his skiddy pace, Mukesh Kumar with his swing and accuracy, and Yash Dayal with a happy mix of both with a left-arm action is as good a domestic pace attack you can gather at this stage. They are all in form, coming off 15 wickets (6 innings), 4 (4 innings) and 4 (2 innings), respectively.
Dayal's participation is in the same doubt as Jurel and if he misses out, Khaleel Ahmed would be the like-for-like replacement for the Rest of India. Khaleel performed better than Prasidh in the Duleep Trophy but would likely be behind him in the pecking order because of the latter's propensity to the Indian team, and higher chances of selection in light of the tour of Australia later in the year.
