Sreesanth last played a First Class match in 2013.
Wicketkeeper-batter Vishnu Vinod has been named Sachin's deputy. Sanju Samson had captained Kerala in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 and Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day competition. Kerala fell in the quarterfinals of both events.
Kerala has been placed in Elite Group B along with Bengal, Vidarbha, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Tripura. Kerala's matches will be held in Bengaluru. They take on Vidarbha in their opening match on January 13, 2022.
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The 24-member preliminary squad sees the return of Sreesanth to the FC fold after 9 years, having played his last FC match in 2013, featuring in the Irani Cup for the Rest of India against Mumbai. He had opted out of the Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Hazare Trophy.
Sreesanth took to Instagram to send a message after his selection in Kerala Ranji probables. He captioned the post: “Back again after 9 years playing Ranji trophy for my lovely state #keralacricketassociation ..really grateful to each and everyone of u .lots of love and respect.”
Robin Uthappa has not been included in the probables as he is yet to regain fitness, while Mohammed Azharuddeen has been overlooked with Varun Nayanar named the second wicketkeeper.
The preliminary camp will be held at Krishnagiri in Wayanad on Thursday.
Kerala Ranji Probables List:
Sachin Baby (capt), Vishnu Vinod (vice-capt & wk), Anand Krishnan, Rohan Kunnumal, Vatsal Govind, Rahul P, Salman Nizar, Sanju Samson, Jalaj Saxena, Sijomon Joseph, Akshay K C, Mithun S, Basil N P, Nideesh M D, Manu Krishnan, Basil Thampi, Fanoos F, S Sreesanth, Akshay Chandran, Varun Nayanar (wk), Anand Joseph, Vinoop Manoharan, Arun M, Vaishak Chandran.