SKY to miss first round due to injury

NEW DELHI, Sep 2: India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav is set to miss the first round of the 2024-25 Duleep Trophy after sustaining a hand injury during last week’s pre-season fixture for Mumbai at the Buchi Babu Invitational Tournament in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
The right-handed batter from Mumbai is currently at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru for a routine assessment and has been advised to rest.
The middle-order batter did not bat for Mumbai in the second innings of the match against TNCA XI last week after injuring his hand while fielding on the third day. However, the Mumbai team management called the decision precautionary as Suryakumar was eyeing to play Duleep Trophy to boost his Test bid ahead of the busy season.
The 33-year-old, who has not played first-class cricket for more than a year, made himself available for the pre-season Buchi Babu Tournament to warm up for the upcoming two-Test series against Bangladesh later this month.
Suryakumar, who played the sole Test against Australia earlier this year, was named in Ruturaj Gaikwad-led India C squad. The team will play their first match against Shreyas Iyer’s India D in Anantapur on September 5 while India A will take on India B simultaneously in the other match of the day in Bengaluru.
Earlier, pacers Mohammed Siraj and Umran Malik were ruled out of the opening round of the Duleep Trophy with illness while all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was released from the India B squad but his replacement was not named.
Navdeep Saini and Gaurav Yadav were named replacements for Siraj and Malik for the India B and C squads respectively. (IANS)