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Devendra Bundela to lead Madhya Pradesh in Ranji Trophy 2016

The veteran will be leading Madhya Pradesh for the upcoming Ranji trophy season 2016.

Devendra Bundela will be leading Madhya Pradesh  © Getty Images (Representational Image)
Devendra Bundela will be leading Madhya Pradesh © Getty Images (Representational Image)

Indore (PTI) Veteran Devendra Bundela will lead the Madhya Pradesh cricket team in the upcoming Ranji Trophy. The selectors have retained the 39-year-old right-handed batsman as the team’s skipper for the domestic tournament, an official of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) said today. MP will play its opening match against Uttar Pradesh from October 6 at Hyderabad. After that, the side will take on Punjab at Lahli in Haryana from October 13, he said. On the other hand, Abhinav Mukund who had a great season with regards to Duleep Trophy and among runs these days; Mukund seems to stay for long. Mukund was part of TNPL’s TUTI Patriot, the winning team in this edition, after his side was defeated in the final of Duleep Trophy. He has been the captain of Tamil Nadu Ranji team for the last two seasons.

While the last season did not go as per the plans as most of the matches held at home were ruined by rains and was one of the major cause for their defeat in the previous season. However, Mukund did not lead Tamil Nadu for the Ranji final in 2015. But there has not been a single moment where he has not enjoyed his captaincy. Mukund is confident this time the Tamil Nadu team has the right bunch of cricketers this season and is looking forward to lead the side once again in Ranji Trophy 2016-17.

He specifically had a great experience in T20 cricket and TNPL in particular, “The atmosphere in the team was very good. There was a good blend of seniors and younger players. And our support staff — head coach J.R. Madanagopal, assistant coach D.J. Gokulakrishnan and mentor Monty Desai — was very good.  The side showed character. We lost three games in a row and then went on to win five matches straight, including the semifinal and final.”

Squad for the two games: Devendra Bundela (c), Naman Ojha (vc), Mukul Raghav, Aditya Shrivastava, Rajat Patidar, Harpreet Singh, Ramiz Khan, Shubham Sharma, Ankit Dane, Ankit Sharma, Mihir Hirwani, Ishwar Pandey, Gaurav Yadav, Ashvin Das, Chandrakant Sakure and Saransh Jain.

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