Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017/18: Suresh Raina Released for National Duty; Akshdeep Nath to Lead UP

Suresh Raina has been released from Uttar Pradesh’s squad, and the captain of the state will not take any part in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017/18. Raina is currently in NCA, working on his fitness, the reason why he was not selected in the team.

In Raina’s absence, Akhsdeep Nath will be leading the team. The former India U19 player was recently bought by Kings XI Punjab in the IPL auction for Rs 1 Crore.

UP side includes two U19 players from the current team viz Shivam Mavi and Aryan Juyal. Mavi is a right-arm pacer, who consistently bowls at 140 Km/hr while Juyal is a wicketkeeper-batsman, who played the first two games of the ongoing U19 World Cup.

It is the first call-up for both the players to the senior side. Though both of them will only join the team after a couple of games, as Indin team will be playing the final of the U19 World Cup on February 3 and the Vijay Hazare Trophy starts on February 5.

Mavi, who is yet to play senior cricket, will be the star attraction, as Kolkata Knight Riders recently bought him for an amount of Rs 3 Crore. He had impressed and surprised everyone with his pace and now will be tested in senior cricket.

Should he perform well in the List A tournament, the national selectors might also give him an opportunity in the Deodhar Trophy, as the Indian selectors have always backed pacers who bowl at a high pace.

UP side also includes Ankit Rajpoot, Prashant Gupta, Saurabh Kumar, Rinku Singh to name a few. The non-inclusion of Praveen Kumar is a surprise.

He was named in the side for the limited-overs format before the start of the season and also played in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy but has not been selected for the List A tournament. The non-selection of Sarfaraz Khan also comes as a surprise.

The selectors have given a chance to youngsters for the tournament. Though the absence of Raina will surely play a role in UP’s form during the tournament.

The left-handed batsman is expected to join the Indian team in days to come for the T20I series against South Africa. He was called back in the side after he did well in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Squad: Akshdeep Nath (captain), Prashant Gupta, Shivam Chaudhary, Umang Sharma, Rinku Singh, Mohammed Saif, Upendra Yadav, Saurabh Kumar, Mohsin Khan, Kartik Tyagi, Ankit Rajpoot, Shivam Mavi, Shubham ChaubeA, Israr Khan, Shanu Saini, Aryan Juyal, Shubham Agarwal.

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