Cuttack: Left-handed batsman Anurag Sarangi has been named as the captain of the 15-member Odisha squad for the upcoming East Zone Syed Mushtaq Ali T-20 Cricket Tournament. Keonjhar batsman Subhranshu Senapati will be his deputy in this competition in the absence of senior members like Govinda Poddar, Biplab Samantaray and Basanta Mohanty.
"Govinda, Biplab and Basanta are unavailable for the first few games of the tournament because of their other official commitments. So we have chosen Anurag to lead the side," informed Bishnudev Mohanty, Chairman, Selection Committee, OCA.
The team includes many young faces along with a few seniors like Paresh Patel, Lagnajit Samal and Jayanta Behera who are making a comeback in the Odisha team. Rajasthan Royals all-rounder Abhishek Raut has been selected in the Odisha team for the first time. He has already played 39 T20 matches including IPL. Former India opener Shiv Sunder Das who was appointed as the Chief Coach during Ranji Trophy will continue in this tourney as well.
Odisha will play against Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Jharkhand in the East Zone competition in Ranchi from January 8 to 16. Odisha team will leave for Ranchi on January 6 and will be playing its first game against Bengal on January 8. The next three games against Assam, Tripura and home team Jharkhand will be played on January 10, 12 and 16, respectively.
Odisha squad-
Anurag Sarangi (Captain), Sandeep Patnaik, Rajesh Dhuper(WK), Paresh Patel, Subhranshu Senapati (VC), Devender Singh Kunwar, Prayas Singh Thakur, Abhishek Rout, Suryakanta Pradhan, Alok Sahoo, Debabrata Pradhan, Jayanta Behera, Ashutosh Das, Debasish Samantaray and Lagnajit Samal