Karnataka opener Mayank Agarwal is predicted to steer the Rest of India (RoI) aspect within the 2022-23 Irani Cup tie towards Madhya Pradesh on the Captain Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior beginning Wednesday.
While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is but to announce the RoI squad formally, Sportstar has learnt that Agarwal is about to captain a group comprising 5 opening batters.
Dropped from the India Test squad after the Sri Lanka sequence in early 2022, the 32-year-old Agarwal led Karnataka to the Ranji Trophy semifinal, the place it misplaced to eventual champion Saurashtra at house in Bengaluru. Agarwal, who struck a double hundred (249) and 55 within the match, ended the red-ball match because the main run-scorer with 990 runs from 13 innings, averaging 82.50 whereas recording three tons and 6 fifties.
Bengal batters Abimanyu Easwaran and Sudip Gharami are named alongside Mumbai opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. Easwaran earlier led India A in its red-ball tour to Bangladesh in November-December 2022, scoring successive centuries earlier than following up with three extra tons within the Ranji season. Wicketkeeper-opener Harvik Desai and left-arm seamer Chetan Sakariya are the one members from the Ranji Trophy title-winning Saurashtra group within the RoI squad.
Wicketkeeper Upendra Yadav, Baba Indrajith and Delhi skipper Yash Dhull are the opposite batting choices within the squad.
No Sarfaraz Khan
A notable exclusion is that of Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan, who had one other spectacular season with the bat, scoring 556 runs with a 90-plus common and three centuries.
Since the 2019-20 season, the 25-year-old has collected a whopping 2970 runs from 26 matches (12 centuries, seven half-centuries) at a staggering common of 106.07. His First-Class common of 79.65 after 54 innings is simply second to Don Bradman (95.14)
Saurabh Kumar, Mayank Markande and Pulkit Narang full the spin division. Baroda all-rounder Atit Shath, Mukesh Kumar and Navdeep Saini make up the seam choices. Bengal pacer Akash Deep was additionally named within the 16-member group after turning into the main wicket-taker amongst pacers within the Ranji season, with 41 wickets from 10 matches.
The Roop Singh Stadium, famend for Sachin Tendulkar’s landmark ODI double century towards South Africa throughout its final worldwide recreation on February 2010, will probably be internet hosting its first senior First-Class match since December 2016.
Madhya Pradesh, the 2021-22 Ranji champion, which faltered within the semifinal towards Bengal this season, is predicted to be led by Rajat Patidar within the absence of standard skipper Aditya Shrivastava.
SQUADS
Rest of India: Mayank Agarwal, Sudip Kumar Gharami, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Harvik Desai, Mukesh Kumar, Atit Sheth, Chetan Sakariya, Navdeep Saini, Upendra Yadav (wk), Mayank Markande, Saurabh Kumar, Akash Deep, Baba Indrajith, Pulkit Narang, Yash Dhull.
Madhya Pradesh: Rajat Patidar, Yash Dubey, Himanshu Mantri (wk), Harsh Gawli, Shubham Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Aman Solanki, Kumar Kartikeya, Saransh Jain, Avesh Khan, Ankit Kushwah, Gaurav Yadav, Anubhav Agarwal, Mihir Hirwani.
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com