Mayank Agarwal of Karnataka, who was the leading run-getter in the recently concluded Ranji Trophy 2022-23 tournament, will captain the Rest of India side in the upcoming Irani Cup match against Madhya Pradesh, starting March 1 in Captain Roop Singh Stadium, Gwalior.
Agarwal, who is looking to regain his Test spot, is likely to partner Bengal opener Abhimanyu Easwaran.
Mumbai’s Sarfaraz Khan has been not picked after he injured his finger during the DY Patil T20 tournament. The match was initially scheduled to be played in Indore but was shifted to Gwalior after the Holkar Stadium earned the right to host the third India-Australia Test, starting March 1.
ROI batting unit will be powered by Sudip Kumar Gharami, Yashasvi Jaiswal, B Indrajith, and Yash Dhull apart from Easwaran and Agarwal. Wicketkeeper-opener Harvik Desai and left-arm seamer Chetan Sakariya are the only two players from the current Ranji champions Saurashtra to feature in the squad.
The pace bowling department will consist of Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep, apart from Sakariya and Delhi’s Navdeep Saini for the company. The spinners in the side are Saurabh Kumar and Mayank Markande.
On the other hand, Madhya Pradesh will be led by wicketkeeper-batter Himanshu Mantri in the absence of regular captain Aditya Shrivastava. Rajat Patidar, Venkatesh Iyer, Avesh Khan, Shubham Sharma, and Yash Dubey, the core of the side which won the Ranji Trophy last season have been retained.
Rest of India squad:
Mayank Agarwal (C), Sudip Kumar Gharami, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Harvik Desai, Mukesh Kumar, Atit Sheth, Chetan Sakariya, Navdeep Saini, Upendra Yadav (WK), Mayank Markande, Saurabh Kumar, Akash Deep, B Indrajith, Pulkit Narang, Yash Dhull.
Madhya Pradesh squad:
Himanshu Mantri (C-WK), Rajat Patidar, Yash Dubey, Harsh Gawli, Shubham Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Aman Solanki, Kumar Kartikeya, Saransh Jain, Avesh Khan, Ankit Kushwah, Gaurav Yadav, Anubhav Agarwal, Mihir Hirwani.
(PTI inputs)
