Ambati Rayudu to lead the Hyderabad side in Ranji Trophy

Hyderabad’s talismanic batsman, Ambati Rayudu, was named as the captain of the Hyderabad cricket team for the Ranji season of 2017-2018 by the Hyderabad Cricket Association on Sunday, 2nd October. There still remains a question mark regarding Pragyan Ojha’s place in the Hyderabad squad this season as HCA announced a squad without his name.

It is learnt that the cricket board is currently awaiting an NOC (No Objection Certificate) from the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). Due to Pragyan Ojha’s sour relationship with the CAB, the former has failed to secure the NOC from the association.

“We will consider him once he gets an NOC from CAB,” commented the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA)
Secretary, T. Sheshnarayan, according to Deccan Chronicle. The left-arm spinner has not been named in Bengal’s squad for the first two games of the Ranji Trophy either.

Ojha has been inclined to return back to Hyderabad but the board refused to provide him with the NOC. Since then, the cricket board headed by Sourav Ganguly has failed to establish contact with him. In the offseason, Ambati Rayudu hogged all the limelight due to his rash behaviour with a senior citizen. HCA officials and senior cricketers apparently were not at all amused by the veteran’s conduct.

“The issue has been closed and I had a talk with Rayudu. He only asked the pedestrians to move aside as he had to rush to the stadium for the Moin-ud-Dowla final between Hyderabad and Air-India but it has been painted wrongly,” quoted T Shesh Narayan, according to Telangana Express.

Here’s the squad:

A. T. Rayudu (captain), K. Sumanth (vice-captain, wicketkeeper), P. Akshath Reddy, Tanmay Agarwal, B. Sandeep, Ashish Reddy, Akash Bhandari, Mehdi Hasan, Saketh Sai Ram, Mohammed Siraj, M. Ravi Kiran, C. V. Milind, Sudeep Tyagi, Rohit Rayudu, Amol Shinde, Mohammed Mudassir. Coach: J. Arun Kumar. Manager: Shyam Sunder.

Coach: J. Arun Kumar. Manager: Shyam Sunder.