The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) will be playing host to the opening match of India’s domestic season, starring a Duleep Trophy fixture. The KSCA has confirmed the fact that the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru will be epicenter for the first of the six four-day red-ball matches which will be beginning on September 5th.

Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh was slated to be the initial venue of the first game but now it has been changed to Bengaluru and an array of Indian internationals, barring Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, are all set to feature in this all-important clash.

“This decision comes at the request of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). We have agreed to host the match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium,” a KSCA official told Cricbuzz.

Big names are going to be a part of the opening fixture of the Duleep Trophy as directed by BCCI, featuring the likes of KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been asked to choose whether or not they would like to participate.

Hardik Pandya won’t be a part of the tournament as he had already given up on red-ball assignments. BCCI are keen for Ishan Kishan to feature as well, considering the fact that he has been out of the international duties for a while now.

The four-team Duleep Trophy is a multi-day first class competition that will be conducted in a league format. There are no knockout games and the tournament concludes on September 22.