Kuldeep Yadav To Lead Uttar Pradesh In The Upcoming Ranji Trophy 2022 Season

Ace spinner Kuldeep Yadav was named captain of the Uttar Pradesh Ranji Trophy team for the upcoming Ranji Season by the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) on Thursday, December 30, 2021. Meanwhile, Karan Sharma has been named vice-captain of the side by the state cricket association.

Kuldeep Yadav recently returned to practice after missing the better part of 2021 after suffering a knee injury and then underwent surgery to fix the issue, in turn missing the second half of the IPL 2021 in the UAE. He had been rehabbing at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), Bengaluru, and him being named captain of the UP side is a big vote of confidence in his abilities.

The left-arm chinaman bowler last played for India in July 2021 against Sri Lanka. So far he has played 7 Tests, 65 ODIs, and 23 T20Is for India, picking up a total of 174 wickets, and is one of the few Indian bowlers to take five-wicket hauls in all three formats of the game. He is also the only Indian bowler to take two ha-tricks in One-day Internationals.

Also, the UPCA announced that the players like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Saurabh Kumar will also be included in the squad if they are available for the tournament. The Ranji Trophy 2022 will begin from January 13 onwards.

Uttar Pradesh Placed In Elite Group E; To Begin Ranji Trophy Campaign Against Odisha

The Uttar Pradesh side has been placed in Elite Group E along with Baroda, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Pondicherry. They will be playing all their matches in Trivandrum and will begin their campaign against Odisha on 13th January.

Meanwhile, other players included in the UP side feature the likes of Priyam Garg, Rinku Singh Akshdeep Nath, Shivam Mavi, Ankit Rajpoot also.

Releasing the official statement, UPCA named a 24-member squad for the Ranji Trophy 2021. “Senior Selection Committee of our Association selected following cricketers of our state to represent U.P. Squad for Ranji Trophy,” UPCA stated.

Ranji Trophy will start from January 13 with the final of the tournament to be played on March 17.

Here’s Uttar Pradesh’s squad for Ranji Trophy 2021: Kuldeep Yadav (C) Karan Sharma (VC) 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

Also Read: Arjun Tendulkar Named In Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy Squad