The Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) finally named a 20-men squad for the Ranji Trophy, starting 11 October, following the intervention of Patna High Court. Notably, the state’s batting prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi hasn’t been picked in the squad which will travel to Rohtak for Bihar’s opening fixture against Haryana.
Earlier on August 5, the Patna High Court appointed Justice Shailesh Kumar Sinha as the ombudsman to oversee the BCA affairs. He re-appointed Amit Kumar as the association secretary and also named a new selection committee which picked the Ranji Trophy squad. Amit Kumar had earlier taken the matter to the court after being removed by the current BCA president Rakesh Tiwari.
But according to ESPN Cricinfo, the Patna High Court temporarily suspended its August 5 order on Tuesday, ruling the team selection invalid. At the same time, Kumar was removed as the association secretary while the ombudsman – Justice Sinha – was also dismissed from his position. Subsequently, a new squad was announced, chosen by a selection committee led by Madhusudan Tantubhai.
“I respect the court’s order, but after Dussehra [the Hindu festival on October 12], I will speak to my lawyer and if he agrees, I will take the matter to the Supreme Court,” Kumar was quoted as saying by the website.
The report further stated that two different training camps were held in Patna, similar to the incident in January 2024 which saw two teams, named by former BCA secretary Kumar and current BCA president Tiwari, arrive for Bihar’s opening fixture against Mumbai at Moin-ul-Haq Stadium. Even then, the Patna High Court intervened to give a nod to one of the squads that actually played the game against the Ajinkya Rahane-led side.
It has also been learned that the players who featured in both squads had to mark a mil to the BCA, informing that they didn’t contact Kumar and were not a part of the camp organised by him.
Suryavanshi not included in the 20-men squad
Bihar’s batting prodigy Vaibhav Suryavashi wasn’t included in Bihra’s 20-men squad for the upcoming Ranji Trophy. Last year, he made headlines with his First-class debut for Bihar at the age of 12, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh in the list of youngest debutants in the domestic first-class tournament.
Last week, Suryavanshi smashed a 58-ball century against Australia in the unofficial U-19 Test at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Bihar squad for Ranji Trophy: Veer Pratap Singh (capt), Shakibul Gani (vice-capt), Bipin Sourabh, Akash Raj, Shraman Nigrodh (wk), Babul Kumar, Ayush Loharuka (wk), Raghwendra Pratap Singh, Mayank Choudhary, Himanshu Singh, Sachin Kumar Singh, Abhijeet Saket, Anuj Raj, Shakib Hussain, Shabbir Khan, Rishav Raj, Harsh Vikram Singh, Jitin Kumar Yadav, Yashpal Yadav, Rishi Raj.
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