Jamshedpur, Oct. 6: After playing the longer versions, it is time for state cricketers to pad up for some slam bang cricket.
The Zonal T20 Tournament, which begins on Friday at the new cricket stadium being built by Jharkhand State Cricket Association on the state capital’s HEC campus, will give ample opportunity to young cricketers to warm up in the run-up to the chock-a-block domestic season ahead.
Four zonal outfits — from east, west, south and north — will play the second edition of T20. East Zone is reigning champions, while South Zone finished second in the inaugural tourney held last year in Dhanbad.
Ishank Jaggi and Rajiv Kumar will lead South Zone and North Zone teams, respectively, while outfits of west and east are yet to be announced.
Jaggi will steer a bunch of talented cricketers such as Rameez Nemat, Shahnawaz Ansari, Shankar Vishwakarma, Sumitabh Kumar, Charan Kamal, Abhishek Ganguly, M.S. Tantubai, Varun Aaron, Rahul Shukla, Yajuvendra Krishnatry, Jaskaran Singh, Sunny Gupta, Samar Quadri and Mithun Mukherjee.
Rameez, who hit a couple of tons for South Zone in the recent match versus Rest of Jharkhand, is in good form. Wicketkeeper Madhu Sudan Tantubai is also a man to watch out for, as a match-winning 83 against Rest of Jharkhand has upped his confidence.
Off-spinner Sunny Gupta, pacer Jaskaran Singh, leggie Samar Quadri, seamer Rahul Shukla and Varun Aaron are expected to contribute a lot in the tourney.
Varun, nursing his troublesome back at Bangalore’s National Cricket Academy is reportedly fit now while Rahul has recovered from chicken pox.
“I am looking forward to the tournament. I’m lucky to have a balanced squad and I know the guys can rise to the occasion,” said Jaggi.
Patna-based Rajiv Kumar, a former Bihar skipper with loads of experience, will like to regain his form, especially after failing to come good on two tournaments held earlier.
Rajiv’s team include Deepak Chougule, Satya Prakash, Raju Kumar, Raju Yadav, Prabudh Kumar, Ashique Zilani, Pawan Kumar, Chandan Singh, Santosh Tiwari, Ajit Pandey, Amresh Prasad, Gautam Yadav and Siddhartha Dahia.
