Yadav. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

Guwahati, June 4: The Assam Cricket Association (ACA) has blooded five greenhorns and reinstated veterans Gautam Dutta, Zaved Zaman and Parag Das on the list of 23 probable players for the premier Buchi Babu and Moin-Ud-Dowla tournaments.

The three seniors were dropped before/during this Ranji Trophy season.

ACA secretary Bikash Baruah said the two tournaments are part of an exposure trip planned by the association to keep the players match-fit for the ensuing Ranji season in which Assam will play four away matches in the elite group.

The newcomers — batsmen Pervez Aziz and Vishal Jain, spinners Bitop Mahanta and Bhaskarjyoti Barman and right-arm medium-pacer R.K. Yadav — were rewarded for their consistency and talent in the just-ended season. Yadav had a stint at the National Cricket Academy’s East Zone centre recently.

The selection panel, comprising Parimal Bhattacharjee, Bimal Bharali, Sushil Uzir and Kamal Das among others, has opted for experience and youth.

Besides drafting in the rookies, the selectors have given seasoned performers like medium-pacers Dutta, Zaman and attacking opener Parag Das a chance to reclaim their berths in the senior team. There are two wicketkeepers in Syed Zakaria Zuffri and Samarjit Nath.

Ranji players Saurav Bhagawati, Pankaj Tamuli and Kiran Powar, who are playing league cricket in England were not considered for selection. Another Ranji batsman, Nishanta Bordoloi, has sought permission to play in England.

Jain, who had an outstanding season with the under-25 team, is in Delhi playing club cricket. Jain, Barman and Mahanta were instrumental in Guwahati winning both the Nuruddin and Nurul Amin trophies.

Aziz, a promising under-19 batsman, is one of the eight performers to be felicitated by the ACA at its annual awards function.

The conditioning and coaching camp will be held at Nehru Stadium from June 25 and the NF Railway stadium at Maligaon from July 3. The Buchi Babu meet will be played in the latter part of July in Chennai, while the Moin-ud-Dowla tournament will begin in the first week of August in Hyderabad. The ACA is also trying to organise a few practice matches in Mumbai.

The shortlisted players will have to undergo a mandatory fitness test before the conditioning and coaching camps.

THE PROBABLES

Nishanta Bordoloi, Parag Das, Sumit Ranjan Das, Souvik Das, Dhiraj Goswami, Mark Ingti, Javed Zaman, Arlen Konwar, Khanin Saikia, Subhrajit Saikia, Mrigen Talukdar, Zakaria Zuffri, R.K. Mritunjoy Gohain, Mansoor Ahmed, Baburam Magor, Samarjit Nath, Vishal Jain, Bhaskarjyoti Barman, Rajkapur Yadav, Bitop Mahanta, Pervez Aziz, Gautam Dutta and Utpal Medhi.