Parag Das. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

Guwahati, Nov. 12: Hard-hitting opener Parag Das today returned to the Assam Ranji Trophy team with the additional responsibility of wearing the captain’s armband in the first two matches against Gujarat and Hyderabad.

Das, who has had an indifferent run with the bat, did not figure in the last three matches the previous season despite being in the team that went to Baroda.

The opener replaces left-arm spinner Sukhwinder Singh, who was in the team in place of wicketkeeper-batsman Syed Zakaria Zuffri. Zuffri, on the other hand, had replaced Subhrajit Saikia at the beginning of the season last year.

A happy Das said after the announcement that he was expecting the captaincy sooner or later.

Left-arm seamer Gautam Dutta was another familiar face to have returned to the 15-member team — announced today by the four-member selection committee, headed by Bimal Bharali. The other members in the selection committee are Anup Ghatak, Parimal Bhattacharjee and Dhiraj Das.

Dutta, according to a selector, has been pretty impressive in the few matches he played.

The elevation of Das came as a surprise because middle-order batsman Nishanta Bordoloi led the team in the season-opening Moin-ud-Dowla Cup in Hyderabad.

Das should have got the honour long ago, a selector said. “He is not only a good batsman but also quite experienced. He appears to be in good nick, too. There is nothing to be surprised about his elevation. Cricket is also a game of reshuffle. The team is only for the first two matches. Everything will depend on performance,” he said.

V. Saravanan, one of the three recruits from Tamil Nadu, figured in the south Indian team that played Assam here last season. He scored 50 in the only innings he got in that match. His other two statemates, medium-pacer R. Satish and left-arm spinner V. Raghuram, the second tweaker in the team along with Singh, would add sting to the bowling department. The team is packed with three spinners — Singh, Raghuram and Arlen Konwar.

Singh from Delhi and Kiran Powar from Mumbai are the two other outstation recruits in the team.

Captain Das, Powar, Zuffri, Saikia, Bordoloi, Saravanan, Satish, Saikia, Rajkumar Mritunjoy Gohain and Souvik Das, who made his debut last year but injured his fingers a few overs into the match against Punjab, will look after the batting department.

The hard-working Gohain is the other opener in the team.

Getting the axe were batsmen Sumit Ranjan Das, Sourav Bhagawati and Mansoor Ahmed. Bhagawati and Ahmed had cooled their heels on the bench for six matches. Also in the team at various points were batsmen Manoj Joglekar and Sunil Vishwanathan, offies Pankaj Tamuly and Ganesh Kumar.

Gujarat arrive tomorrow for their November 15 match at Nehru Stadium. The outfield and pitch — which should assist spinners — got a facelift for the November 9 one-dayer between Australia and New Zealand.

THE TEAM: Parag Das (captain), Subhrajit Saikia, Kiran Powar, Syed Zakaria Zuffri (wicketkeeper), V. Saravanan, R. Satish, V. Raghuram, Gautam Dutta, Sukhwinder Singh, Arlen Konwar, Mrigen Talkudar, Souvik Das, Rajkumar Mritunjoy Gohain, Nishanta Bordoloi and Mark Ingti. Coach: Abdul Jabbar Khan. Manager: Rup Kamal Kakati.