Deodhar Trophy 2023: Nitish Rana gets rewarded with Captaincy role of North Zone

Nitish Rana had his best Indian Premier League (IPL) season as a batter in this year's tournament. For the first time in his career, he crossed the 400-run mark in a single season of the cash-rich league. In 14 matches, Rana scored 413 runs for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at an average of 31.77 and a strike rate of 140.96.

Incidentally, the Delhi batter was also named the captain of the two-time IPL-winning franchise for the 2023 season. He stood in for the injured Shreyas Iyer. KKR's campaign didn't turn out to be fruitful as they finished seventh in the table with six wins and eight losses.

Nitish Rana's exploits as captain, however, caught the eyes of cricket experts and he has now been given the responsibility of leading the North Zone team in the upcoming Deodhar Trophy. The 29-year-old has not played any domestic cricket after the conclusion of the IPL. He wasn't named in North Zone's squad for the Duleep Trophy. A good performance in the first white-ball competition of the domestic season could help the southpaw make his claim for a call-up to the national side.

Abhishek Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh, and Harshit Rana could join North Zone later

Talented cricketers Abhishek Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh, and Harshit Rana have been named in India A's squad for Emerging Teams Asia Cup as well as the North Zone's Deodhar Trophy side. The Emerging Teams Asia Cup ends on July 23, whereas the Deodhar Trophy gets underway on July 24. Therefore, if India A reaches the final of the Asia Cup, the trio might join North Zone's squad later and in that case, the standby players will get to play.

“If India reaches the finals, there may be a delay in them joining the team and the stand-by players will play the first game in that case,” North Zone selection committee convenor Anirudh Chaudhary was quoted as saying by Sportstar.