Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019-20: Jharkhand announces 14-man squad for the tournament

The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is the next stop where all the leading domestic cricketers will converge to showcase their precocious skills. With the tournament set to get underway on November 08, all the teams are gradually announcing their respective squads for the flagship Twenty20 tournament. This will be the first time that the Twenty-over domestic tournament will be played before the premier First-Class series- Ranji Trophy, allowing all the cricketers to put forward their case for the impending Indian Premier League Auctions.

Ahead of the tournament, The Jharkhand State Cricket Association has announced their 14-member squad for the marquee event with 2016 U19 World Cup captain, tearaway wicketkeeper-batsman, Ishan Kishan set to take over the leadership duties.

This will be a great opportunity for Ishan to showcase his precocious talent and put forward his credentials for a potential national call-up, just like Kerala’s Sanju Samson did in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy. The left-hander had a great last season where he racked up 333 runs in eight games at an average of 55.50 and he will be looking to do an encore.

Kishan will lead the unit that boasts of experienced players like Saurabh Tiwary, Rahul Shukla, spin-bowling spearhead Shahbaz Nadeem, who recently made his Test match debut in Ranchi against South Africa. The squad also boasts of youngsters like Monu Kumar and former India U19 cricketers like Anukul Roy and Virat Singh.

No MS Dhoni in the Jharkhand squad

One of the curiosities among the fans, when the Jharkhand squad was about to be announced, was whether former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be selected for the tournament or not. MS Dhoni hasn’t featured in any competitive cricket fixture since India’s semi-final exit from the 2019 World Cup and with him not getting picked for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the mystery deepens on his potential comeback in the Indian set-up. Jharkhand will kickstart their campaign against Odisha on November 08.

Here’s the squad

Ishan Kishan (Captain), Varun Aaron, Anand Singh, Supriyo Chakraborty, Kumar Deobrat, Monu Kumar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Nazim Siddiqui, Anukul Roy, Rahul Shukla, Vivekanand Tiwari, Saurabh Tiwary, Utkarsh Singh, Virat Singh.