The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday announced Rest of India (ROI) squad for the Irani Cup 2022 to be played against the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy Champions Saurashtra from October 1-5, 2022 at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot.
The prestigious tournament is back after three years after it was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. India batter Hanuma Vihari captain of the Rest of India team, while Mayank Agarwal has also been picked in the squad. Yash Dhull, who led India to the U-19 World Cup in 2022, has also been added along with young pace Umran Malik.
Saurashtra emerged victorious in the Ranji final in March 2020, beating Bengal. They were supposed to play Irani Cup a week later before COVID-19 put things to a halt.
There was no red ball domestic cricket in India during the 2020-21 season due to COVID-19. Ranji made its return in the 2021-22 season, with Madhya Pradesh clinching its maiden title by defeating multi-time champions Mumbai by six wickets in the final back in June.
The previous edition of the competition was held back in February 2019 in which Vidarbha beat the Rest of India on the basis of the first innings lead in Nagpur.
The Rest of India squad will be coached by Sitanshu Kotak, the former Saurashtra captain, who is currently part of VVS Laxman’s larger coaching group at the National Cricket Academy.
Rest of India squad: Hanuma Vihari (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Yash Dhull, Sarfaraz Khan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, K.S.Bharat, Upendra Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Saurabh Kumar, R Sai Kishore, Mukesh Kumar, Umran Malik, Kuldeep Sen and Arzan Nagwaswalla.
Saurashtra squad: Jaydev Unadkat (capt), Cheteshwar Pujara, Sheldon Jackson, Prerak Mankad, Arpit Vasavada, Chirag Jani, Dharmendra Jadeja, Chetan Sakariya, Parth Bhut, Snell Patel (wk), Harvik Desai, Vishvaraj Jadeja, Kamlesh Makwana, Kushang Patel and Kishan Parmar.