Best playing XI of the Duleep Trophy 2016

The Duleep Trophy 2016 just met with it conclusion after the Gautam Gambhir-led India Blue steamrolled India Red by a huge 355 runs margin in the final. The one–sided show saw India Blue completely dominate India Red in all departments and pocket the title without much hassle.

The tournament was a groundbreaking one. The day-night version was introduced for the first time. With no experience of playing with the innovative pink ball, players had a new challenge waiting in front of them. The whole tournament also suffered due to rains. Regardless of these factors, all three teams coped well with the challenge and came out good, giving some exhilarating performances. The most dominant of them all were, of course, the champions India Blue. Both India Red and India Green failed to match them.

But, when it comes to the individuals, each team had its standout performers who performed brightly. Therefore, it will be really interesting to combine all the standout performers and form the best XI . So, here in this listicle, we try to list the ‘Best Playing XI of the Duleep Trophy 2016.’

1. Gautam Gambhir – India Blue (C):

Gautam Gambhir made a lot of noise this tournament. The India Blue skipper was at his best with the bat and amassed 356 runs from five innings at an average of 71.20. He was the man responsible for the numerous strong starts that India Blue had in the tournament.

While a few players came up with issues of facing the bowlers under the lights, Gambhir never looked to be having any problem and was very comfortable against fast bowler and spinners. He never tasted failure in the three games he played, hitting half-centuries in each innings except on one occasion (in the second innings of the finals, he scored 36).

In the first rain-hit match against India Red, Gambhir contributed 77. He followed it up with fantastic knocks of 90 and 59 in the important 2nd game against India Green. In the finally, he once again missed out on a century after getting out for 94. In all, his efforts saw him finish as the fourth highest run-getter in the overall batting chart of the tournament and also helped him create some noise about his comeback in the national team.