The 2026 Duleep Trophy final kicks off on Sunday between South Zone and East Zone at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Two players who will be captaining their respective teams are also part of India’s three-T20I squad against Afghanistan, and that rubber kicks off on September 13. Assuming the five-day Duleep Trophy final goes into the last day (September 10), Tilak Varma (South Zone captain) and Ishan Kishan (East Zone captain) will then have just a couple of days to prepare of the Afghanistan T20Is in New Delhi. It may appear nothing much, but changing formats just in a couple of days can be a big deal. They have been playing red-ball cricket for the last few weeks, and switching to the shortest format of the game in such a short time is going to be really challenging.
“I don’t know. How do I tell you? It’s just about knowing what format you are playing. Sometimes it gets difficult when you are playing a Test match, and suddenly you have to go and start hitting from ball one, and suddenly you have to go back to your domestic team, and you have to play a whole different role. But at the same time, I feel, as professionals, it’s our job to adapt. We cannot be coming up with excuses after knowing this is like your routine for the next few days.
“So, it is better not to be in a situation where we have to make excuses, but at the same time be aware and be mindful of what is going to happen, and I will be playing T20 after this. So my job will be different there, but still I feel we are getting two days of practice before the Afghanistan first game, so it will be more than enough, I feel,” Kishan said on the eve of the Duleep Trophy final.
Varma, who is deputy to Shreyas Iyer in T20Is, like Kishan, acknowledged the challenge they face but it’s not something out of the ordinary. They can very well deal with it.
It may be noted that normally Indian teams congregate quite a few days before an international assignment, but in light of the importance of the Duleep Trophy final, the BCCI has made a concession for both players so that they can join the squad later.
“We have played enough domestic games, we have played in every condition, so we can adjust to the conditions. But it will be slightly challenging playing five days here and again joining the [India] team. But from here we are going to Delhi, there will be two days of break, so we can practise there, and we have enough time as well, but it will be slightly challenging. We know how to change our mindsets and maintain our bodies with good fluids and everything, so we have played back-to-back games before in the domestic as well and international, so we are quite used to it,” Varma, who scored a century and a fifty in the semifinal, said.
