Calcutta: Sanjay Bangar is set to be included in the Kolkata Knight Riders’ 24-member players’ list. The list will be pruned to 20 before the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa from April 18.

The first batch of players is expected to leave for South Africa late on Tuesday.

Bangar is the surprise choice since he did not figure in the initial list of players. The former India all-rounder, who will be present at practice on Monday, was chosen after taking into account his experience on playing on hard and bouncy wickets.

Bangar had played for Deccan Chargers in the first edition of the IPL but was subsequently released by the franchise. While Bangar remains the surprise choice, Debabrata Das, who had played matches for the Knight Riders last year, is likely to be excluded this time. The team management is not going to risk Mohnish Parmar, whose action has been under a cloud.

Apart from the 10 foreigners, the others who will be in the list are Sourav Ganguly, Ishant Sharma, Ajit Agarkar, Aakash Chopra, Cheteshwar Pujara, Iqbal Abdullah, Murali Karthik, Sunny Singh, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Wriddhiman Saha, Ashok Dinda, Sourav Sarkar, Shoaib Sheikh and Sanjay Bangar.