Ranji Trophy 2024: Rajasthan Squad Announced, Deepak Hooda To Captain

28-year-old explosive batsman Deepak Hooda has been announced as the captain of Rajasthan for the upcoming season of Ranji Trophy 2024 starting from January 5 for his splendid performance in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023. But a major issue that has come to the fore for Rajasthan is that certain players in their 18-man squad have been included unethically, not based on their performance but because of their contacts with people at higher authorities.

According to our internal sources, at least 3 players in the team have been selected due to their power and influence with an unnamed player having no experience of playing cricket in any age group without any stats to his name, has been selected in place of those U-19 and U-23 players who have done well.

Those 3 players have a relative or a family connection sitting at a higher position in the Rajasthan Cricket Association or the state ministry. The names of those players haven’t been put out but it indeed is something that doesn’t seem to stop in Indian cricket.

Rajasthan Cricket Association Official Claims Selectors Are Being Pressurized

More often than not, players get selected based on their contacts or on the amount of money they can offer. In states like Delhi, Haryana, and Rajasthan, these types of cases are very prevalent and they happen internally without anyone getting a sniff of it.

“So many players in the Under 23 and Under 19 tournaments have done well, but unfortunately, they have not been included. A few in the system are using their power to pressure selectors to get their relatives in the team. A new name in the squad has not played any age group cricket, but that boy has been included.” – an internal RCA source claimed.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan after finishing runners-up in the Vijay Hazare Trophy will look forward to claim their 3rd Ranji Trophy title and first since the 2011-12 season. In total, they played in 10 Finals, winning twice but losing on 8 occasions.

They had lost to Haryana in the Vijay Hazare final by 30 runs. Their newly named captain Deepak Hooda finished the tournament as the 3rd highest run-getter with 480 runs, including 2 Centuries and Half-centuries each to his name and a similar performance will be expected from him in the red-ball format of India’s oldest first-class tournament.

Rajasthan To Open Ranji Trophy 2024/25 Campaign With A Trip To Haryana

The 2-time Ranji Trophy winners have been placed in Group A which consists of teams like Haryana, Services, Maharashtra, Manipur, Vidarbha, and reigning champions Saurashtra. Rajasthan’s campaign will kick-start with a trip to Haryana before facing Services, Maharashtra, Manipur, Vidarbha and Saurashtra.

Last season, Rajasthan suffered a group stage exit after registering 2 wins and losses each with the remaining fixtures ending up as draws. They collected 20 points and had a better run rate than the 2nd placed team but due to their 3 draws, Rajasthan had no option but to look forward to the next season.

Rajasthan squad for Ranji Trophy 2024: Deepak Hooda (C), Aniket Choudhary (VC), Abhijeet Tomar, Yash Kothari, Mahipal Lomror, Karan Lamba, Kunal Singh Rathore (WK), Manav Suthar, Arafat Khan, Rahul Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Sahil Dhiwan, Salman Khan, Ram Moham Chouhan, Samarpit Joshi, Tanveer Ul Haq, Kamlesh Patel and Ramniwas Golada.