Vidarbha may have won the Ranji Trophy earlier this year, but only four of its players have been picked for the Duleep Trophy by the Central Zone selection committee. Among them, two including Yash Rathod were automatic choices, as they were the highest wicket-taker and the leading run-scorer in the last Ranji Trophy.
Danish Malewar, who scored a century in the final against Kerala, and consistent medium-pacer Aditya Thakare are the other two Vidarbha players in the Central Zone squad. Usman Ghani, the man behind Vidarbha’s third Ranji Trophy triumph, has rightly been named Central Zone coach. The bigger surprise, however, was the selectors’ decision to leave out Akshay Wadkar, Vidarbha’s ever-reliable skipper.
Having led Vidarbha to back-to-back Ranji Trophy finals in the last two years, while also scoring heavily, Wadkar was expected to be an automatic pick for the Central Zone team. However, the selectors overlooked his 722 runs in 10 matches and 24 dismissals (19 catches and five stumpings) as wicketkeeper in the last Ranji Trophy.
Wadkar had scored two centuries and two fifties at an average of 45.13. In a surprising move, Madhya Pradesh’s Rajat Patidar has been included in the squad, subject to fitness, while the team will be led by wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel just like Wadkar.
Yash Rathod’s selection, on the other hand, was a certainty after he scored 960 runs from 10 matches at an average of 53.33, the highest by any batter in the last Ranji season.
Rathod’s stellar season included five centuries, one of them a crucial 151 against Mumbai in Vidarbha’s 80-run semifinal win. Harsh Dubey was equally impressive, taking 69 wickets the most in a single Ranji Trophy season at an exceptional average of 16.98, with seven five-wicket hauls in 10 matches.
Danish Malewar scored 783 runs in nine matches at an average of 52.20, including two centuries and six fifties, with a highest score of 154 in the final against Kerala. Medium-pacer Aditya Thakare claimed 28 wickets in eight matches at 19.85 before injury ruled him out of the semifinal and final. Yash Thakur has been named among the standbys.
Central Zone squad: Dhruv Jurel (C & WK), Kuldeep Yadav, Aryan Juyal (Uttar Pradesh); Harsh Dubey, Yash Rathod, Danish Malewar, Aditya Thakare (Vidarbha); Rajat Patidar, Saransh Jain, Shubham Sharma (Madhya Pradesh); Deepak Chahar, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed (Rajasthan); Sanjeet Desai, Ayush Pandey (Chhattisgarh). Coach: Usman Ghani.
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