Wadkar retained as captain; Shivam and Praful in Vidarbha’s squad for Ranji Trophy season-opener

Nagpur, Oct 6 (PTI) Defending champions Vidrabha on Monday named Shivam Deshmukh and Praful Hinge in their 17-member squad, led by Akshay Wadkar, for the season-opening clash against Nagaland in Bengaluru.

Vidarbha, who defeated Kerala in the last season's title clash, will face Nagaland at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence Ground from October 15-18.

Vidarbha are placed in Ranji Trophy Elite Group A along with Uttar Pradesh, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Odisha, Baroda and Nagaland.

Vidarbha are coming off a huge 93-run victory against the Rest of India in the Irani Cup.

The defending champions will be without their star batter Karun Nair, who has been replaced by Karnataka batter Ravikumar Samarth.

Usman Ghani will continue to coach the Vidarbha side while Dharmender Ahlawat has been named the assistant coach.

The squad also features left-arm spin bowling all-rounder Harsh Dubey, who had created the record for most wickets in the Ranji Trophy with 69 wickets last season.

Additionally, the left-handed batter Yash Rathod, who was the top run-scorer with 960 runs with five centuries and three fifties across all teams, also features in the side along with Danish Malewar, who was the fifth in the list with 783 runs.

Skipper Wadkar had amassed 722 runs in his team's dominant run as Vidarbha had remained unbeaten in the Ranji season.

Squad: Akshay Wadkar (c&wk), Atharva Taide, Aman Mokhade, Danish Malewar, Yash Rathod (vc), Harsh Dubey, Parth Rekhade, Yash Thakur, Nachiket Bhute, Darshan Nalkande, Aditya Thakare, Yash Kadam, Shivam Deshmukh (wk), Praful Hinge, Akshay Karnewar, Dhruv Shorey, R Samarth.

Support staff: Usman Ghani (head coach), Dharmender Ahlawat (assistant coach), Yuvraj Singh Dasondhi (strength and conditioning), Dr Nitin Khurana (physio), Ajeenkya Sawale (video analyst), Bhushan Zhade (masseur), Yash Thorat (sidearm throw), and Jitendra Dharbhe (manager). PTI DDV AT AT