Sikkim rope in three out station players for Ranji season

Sikkim, new entrants in the Indian domestic scene, were the only team out of the nine to feature only home-grown players in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018-19, but failed to win a single match.

And ahead of the Ranji Trophy 2018-19 season, starting November 1, the Sikkim Cricket Association have asked BCCI’s permission to rope in three out station players.

According to Sportstar Live, Sikkim have roped in Himachal Pradesh’s Bipul Sharma, Gujarat’s Ishwar Chaudhury and Delhi’s Milind Kumar.

“We were initially thinking of relying on home talents but we have now realised that bringing three professional players will actually help our boys,” a top SCA official said as quoted by the website.

Bipul, an experienced campaigner, has played for Punjab and Himachal Pradesh totalling 42 first-class games and 82 List A matches. He was also part of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s successful IPL campaign in 2016.

Milind was the batting mainstay of the Delhi batting unit a couple of years back, but fell out of favour playing just four games for the state team last Ranji season.

Chaudhary has featured in 37 first-class games for Gujarat, and was also a part of the Kolkata Knight Riders a few seasons ago.