Right-arm fast bowler Saranu Nishanth, who has played five First-class games for Hyderabad, finds himself among the standbys for Hyderabad’s Under-23 Col CK Nayudu Trophy match against Vidarbha at the NFC from January 23 to 26.
One would have expected someone who has already played Ranji Trophy for the state to walk into the 15-man squad, if not into the playing XI, at the Under-23 level. But the Junior Selection Committee chairman and selectors have thought otherwise. Nishanth played two matches for Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy this season. A player who is good enough to play for the Ranji Trophy team is deemed unfit to walk into the Under-23 team.
With P Aman Rao, Pranav Varma and Nitin Sai Yadav being drafted into the Ranji Trophy team for their game against Mumbai, it seems to have turned a blessing in disguise for the Junior Selection Committee to get ‘fringe’ players into the 15-man squad while leaving out the likes of Nishanth and left-arm bowler V Yashveer Goud.
At a time when the Under-23 team needed a good squad to take on Vidarbha, who are no pushovers, the selectors have gone in for players, whose performance at the league-level itself is not heartening. It looks like the selectors are least bothered about the performance of the team.
Under-23 team: Mayank Gupta (captain), Raghava Pattapu, Wafi Kachchhi, A Avanish Rao (VC & WK), S Dheeraj Goud (WK), Harshit Choudhary, G Rithish Reddy, A Vignesh Reddy, Khush Agarwal, M Ruthik Yadav, Shashank Mehrotra, R Dinesh Rathod, M A Malik, Mohd Abdul Adnan, T Aniketh Reddy. Standbys: Sarthak Bharadwaj, Karan Pattanayak, Saranu Nishanth, V Yashveer Goud.
Pranav and Nitish Reddy in revised Ranji squad
With Tanay Thyagarajan not available, the Senior Selection Committee on Tuesday drafted Pranav Varma in the all-rounder’s place for the Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai, which will be played in Hyderabad from January 22. In another change, P Nitish Reddy has replaced Kanala Nitesh Reddy in the 15-member squad.
Both Pranav, who was with the Under-23 team, and Nitish Reddy were among the five stand byes for this game. With Pranav and Nitish moving up, the selectors brought in Ashish Srivastav and HK Simha. Three players, who were with the Under-23, have been included in the Ranji Trophy squad.
Revised team: Md Siraj (captain), G Rahul Singh (VC), C V Milind, Pranav Varma, K Rohit Rayudu, K Himateja, A Varun Goud, M Abhirath Reddy, Rahul Radesh (WK), Aman Rao Perala, CTL Rakshann Readdi, N Nitin Sai Yadav, P Nitish Reddy, Sai Pragnay Reddy (WK), B Punnaiah. Standbys: Mickil Jaiswal, A Avanish Rao (WK), Kartikeya Kak, Ashish Srivastav, H K Simha.
