Ranji Trophy 2021-22: Kuldeep Yadav to lead Uttar Pradesh, Karn Sharma named deputy

Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav will lead Uttar Pradesh during Ranji Trophy 2021-22, which gets underway from January 13. Fellow spinner Karn Sharma will be seen as Yadav’s deputy, while youngsters Priyam Garg and Shivam Mavi have also been named in the squad.

“Senior Selection Committee of our Association selected following cricketers of our state to represent U.P. Squad for Ranji Trophy,” Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) said in a statement on December 29 (Wednesday).

Uttar Pradesh, who are placed in Elite Group E, will begin their campaign against Odisha from January 13 to 16, followed by fixtures against Baroda (January 20 to 23), Puducherry (January 27 to 30), Chattisgarh (February 3 to 6) and Andhra (February 10 to 13).

The teams, divided in groups of six, will be playing their games in six cities, namely Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Trivandrum and Chennai, with the final set to be played on March 16 to 20. Kolkata will host the knockouts, scheduled from February 20, whereas the quarter-finals will be played from February 28 to March 3, followed by the semi-finals from March 8 to 12.

Uttar Pradesh squad for Ranji Trophy 2021-22

Kuldeep Yadav (Captain) Karan Sharma (Vice-Captain) Madhav Kaushik, Almas Shaukat, Samarth Singh, Hardeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Priyam Garg, Akshdeep Nath, Sameer Choudhary, Kritagya Singh, Aryan Juyal, Dhruv Chandra Jurel, Shivam Mavi, Ankit Rajpoot, Yash Dayal, Kunal Yadav, Prince Yadav, Rishabh Bansal, Shanu Saini, Jasmer, Zeeshan Ansari, Shivam Sharma, Parth Mishra

Ranji Trophy 2021-22 Groups

There are a total of six groups, including five Elite ones, which have six teams each, and one plate group comprising eight teams. Group C is being labelled as the group of death, with Mumbai, Karnataka and Delhi slotted in together alongside Hyderabad, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand.

Elite A: Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal, Madhya Pradesh, Services and Assam (in Mumbai)

Elite B: Bengal, Vidarbha, Rajasthan, Kerala, Haryana and Tripura(in Bangalore)

Elite C: Karnataka, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand (in Kolkata)

Elite D: Saurashtra, Tamil Nadu, Railways, J & K, Jharkhand and Goa (in Ahmedabad)

Elite E: Andhra, Uttar Pradesh, Baroda, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Pondicherry (in Trivandrum)

Plate Group: Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal (in Chennai)