Suresh Raina to lead Central Zone in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Team India Test discard Suresh Raina is set to lead Central Zone in the upcoming inter-zonal T20 tournament for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The tournament kicks off at the Wankhede Stadium on 12th February and the final will be played on 18th February. Raina who made a comeback in the national team for the T20Is against England played very well in the series and was instrumental in India pulling off a 2-1 scoreline in their favour.

Naman Ojha who has been a veteran in the domestic circuit will be Raina’s deputy for the upcoming tournament. The Central Zone squad comprises of three players each from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Railways while Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Vidarbha consist of two players each. The Central zone side is loaded with spinners and as many as 4 frontline spinners are there in the squad excluding the more than decent part-time off-spin of Suresh Raina.

While Karn Sharma and Chhattisgarh’s Shubham Agarwal are the leg spinnings options in the side, left-arm spinners Sohraab Dhaliwal and Mahipal Lomror are the other two options for Raina. The selectors met in Nagpur to pick the squad while all the other four zones have already announced their squads.

The pace bowling line-up is spearheaded by UP’s Ankit Rajpoot and Amit Mishra while Aniket Choudhary who has been recently called up to the national camp as a net bowler for the series against Australia will also play a major role. He has the ability to generate steep bounce and unravel any batsmen. Former MP cricketer Harvinder Singh who is the current coach of the state team will mentor the team.

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The full squad: Suresh Raina (capt), Naman Ojha (vice-capt, wk), Ambati Rayudu, Mahesh Rawat, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Karn Sharma, Akshdeep Nath, Amandeep Khare, Ankit Rajpoot, Aniket Choudhary, Amit Mishra, Sohraab Dhaliwal, Mahipal Lomror, Shubham Agarwal, Apoorv Wankhade.

Stand-bys: Akshay Wakhare, Puneet Datey, Sumit Ruikar, Jitesh Sharma, Sarfaraz Khan, Divya Pratap Singh Hada.