Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) on Friday announced a 20-member team for Ranji Trophy and another 20-member side for Under-22 tournaments for the upcoming season, scheduled to commence from November.
Published: Sep 16, 2011, 04:52 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 16, 2011, 04:52 PM (IST)
Chairman of JKCA, Mohammad Aslam Goni said the 20 cricketers for the Ranji team were finalised by chief coach Bishan Singh Bedi (L) © AFP
Srinagar: Sep 16, 2011
Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) on Friday announced a 20-member team for Ranji Trophy and another 20-member side for Under-22 tournaments for the upcoming season, scheduled to commence from November.
“Chief coach Bishen Singh Bedi has finalised 20 cricketers each for Ranji Trophy and under-22 tournaments,” Chairman of JKCA, Mohammad Aslam Goni, told reporters.
Deepak Manhas is the only fresh face in the Ranji team while Abid Nabi, Samiullah Beigh and Sameer Ali apart from Ian Dev Singh, Dhruv Mahajan and Majid Dar are some of the prominent names who have been selected for the season ahead.
The pruned lists, which were drafted from a 30-member pool for each category, are all set to represent the state in all formats of the game.
However, only 15 players will be nominated before each game by Bedi in consultation with the captain of the team, Goni informed.
Meanwhile, in the U-22 category, four new faces including Shubham Khajuria (15), who was prolific with the bat during the state level tournaments recently, have been drafted into the team.
The other three youngsters are Dilawar Singh, Omar Nazir and Mehjoor Ali.
Goni said JKCA has kept a provision for providing an opportunity to the outstanding performer from U-22 category to play in the Ranji Team.
He said the teams will be sent on an acclimatisation trip to other states before the actual competition gets underway.
On the advice of Bedi, who signed a three-year coaching contract with JKCA recently, the Association has done away with hiring professionals from other states this year.
“The chief coach wanted to groom local talent and give more chances to them. Moreover, the professionals hired by the JKCA in the past have not given outstanding performances, which led to this decision,” an official of the Association said on the condition of anonymity.(PTI)
