Ranji Trophy 2015-16: Railways squad and team preview

Anureet Singh, Karn Sharma and skipper Mahesh Rawat are among the key players for the two-time Ranji champions.

Barring Services, Railways is the only other team in the Ranji Trophy that comprises of players from all over the country and is run by India’s official establishment. It is controlled by the Ministry of Railways, with a player requiring to complete three years of employment in order to be eligible for membership, aside from passing the various fitness Tests. Read all Ranji Trophy 2015-16 team previews here

Railways have been among the minnows in India’s premier domestic tournament for the most part since its Ranji debut in 1958-59 till the turn of the millennium. Their first major finish was in 1987-88 when it beat Delhi in the semi-final before losing to Tamil Nadu in the final. They went on to reach the final 13 years later, losing the final to Baroda by 21 runs. They, however, extracted their revenge in the very next edition when they defeated the same opponents by a massive 277 runs.

They went on to record their second title win three years later in 2004-05 when they defeated Punjab in the final due to their first innings lead.  On both occasions they have won the Irani Trophy as well. A nucleus consisting of Murali Kartik, Sanjay Bangar, JP Yadav, Abhay Sharma, Kulamani Parida and Yere Goud walked wonders for them. Ranji Trophy 2015-16: Services squad and team preview

Railways squad for Ranji Trophy 2015-16: Mahest Rawat (c & wk), Rohan Bhosale, Ranjit Mali, Anureet Singh, Ashish Singh, Prashant Awasthi, V Chevularaj, Faiz Ahmed, Arindam Ghosh, Hitesh Kadam, Anustup Majumdar, Amit Mishra, Arnab Nandi, Karn Sharma, Krishnakant Upadhyay, Saurabh Wakaskar.

Key Players: The biggest stars for Railways are Karn Sharma and Anureet Singh. Karn, who hails from Meerut, has been on the national selector’s radar for quite some time now, has played a Test, and has been a regular feature in the India A. Anureet, on the other hand, made it to the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) side after a good domestic season in 2013-14.

Among the other key players are captain and wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat, who has a tally of 4,650 runs at 42.66 and 246 dismissals in 85 First-Class appearances. In the bowling unit, Assam-born medium-pacer Ranjit Mali is another important name due to his tally of 84 wickets from 27 appearances at an impressive 26.96.

Railways face Punjab in the first game of tournament. Punjab will be led by Harbhajan Singh, and will be tough to overhaul. Their first game at their home ground of Karnail Singh Stadium will take place on October 22 against Gujarat. They will face their toughest challenge in the round-robin stage against 40-time Ranji champions Mumbai at Wankhede Stadium on November 15.

(Amit Banerjee, a reporter at CricketCountry, takes keen interest in photography, travelling, technology, automobiles, food and, of course, cricket. He can be followed on Twitter via his handle @akb287)

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