The spotlight would firmly be on the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and young Prithvi Shaw when the Super League stage of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament begins here today.
The focus will be on Dhawan, who has not had a great run in recent times as well as Shaw, who recently returned to competitive cricket after serving an eight month retrospective ban.
Dhawan is currently going through a rough patch. The Delhi batsman had scores of 0(9) against Jammu &Kashmir, 9(6) against Jharkhand, 19(18) against Sikkim and 35(33) against Odisha in the league stage of the national T20 championship and he would be more than keen to turn things around.
Another promising opener who would want to make most of the opportunity is Shaw, who returned with a bang from a doping ban, slamming a half-century against Assam in the last game of the league stage for Mumbai.
Twenty-year old Shaw will have to make optimum use of the Super League stage if he has to impress the national selectors and make a comeback to the national team.
In all probability, Shaw will open for Mumbai, replacing an in-form Jay Bista, with senior pro Aditya Tare.
His teammates and three India players — Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube and Shardul Thakur — also have an opportunity to cement their places in the Indian T20 squad with good outings.