Duleep Trophy 2016 schedule, squads, venue

BCCI on Thursday announced the schedule and teams for the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2016 season. The tournament will begin on August 23 and will go on till September 14. All matches will be played at the Greater Noida International Cricket Stadium in Uttar Pradesh. India Red, India Blue and India Green will be the teams competing in the tournament. Red will be led by Yivraj Singh, while Blue and Green will be led by Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina respectively. The Duleep Trophy this time will be played under lights and pink balls will be used for the very first time in India’s domestic competition. READ: Duleep Trophy 2016: IND cricketers excited to play with pink ball

The decision to use pink balls was taken after the BCCI’s Tour Programme and Fixtures Committee met in Mumbai sometime in June 2016. Some players like Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara and Shardul Thakur, who are currently in the West Indies, playing test series, have also been named in the squads. Pujara has been named in the Blue team, while Vijay will play for Green. Shardu, who earned his maiden India call-up after impressive show in the domestic circuit for Mumbai, will be a part of the Blue team, led by Gambhir. READ: Anurag Thakur, BCCI eager to know player’s feedback on pink-ball

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#Paytm Duleep Trophy teams and schedule announced – Aug 23 to Sept 14, 2016 at Greater Noida International Cricket Stadium, UP

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 11, 2016

India Red- Mukund,KS Bharat,Sudip,Gurkeerat,Yuvraj(C),Bains(wk), A Karthik,Wakhare,Kuldeep,Nathu,Anureet, I Pandey, Nitish, M Ashwin,Mithun

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 11, 2016

India Blue-Gambhir(C), Mayank, Sheldon, Aparajith, Lad, Karthik(wk), Rasool, K Monish, K Das, Surya, Mohit, Pankaj, Shardul, Pujara, Vihari

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 11, 2016

India Green- Uthappa,Jalaj,Rayudu,ID Singh,R Prem, Raina(C), Parthiv(wk), Harbhajan, S Gopal, Dinda, Sandeep,Rajpoot, Paliwal, Bumrah, Vijay

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 11, 2016

The fourth and final Test will end on August 22, due to which these players may miss out on the opening fixtures. The BCCI has included many former and current Test players in the squads as they want their feedback about the pink balls. They will be taking the players’ opinion on this and take a call whether to host a day-night Test in India in the future.