Barinder Sran switches to Chandigarh after Punjab snub

Fast bowler Barinder Sran has finalised his transfer to Chandigarh after being left out of his home state Punjab's Vijay Hazare Trophy squad. He obtained a no-objection certificate from Punjab on Thursday, saying he was not informed by the Punjab selectors why he was left out, and that he did not want to "waste the entire season" by not playing.

"They didn't even give me a valid reason [for dropping me]," Sran told the Times of India. "At least I deserved to know the reason why I was dropped. The selectors stopped taking my phone calls. I had no other option. I can't waste my entire season. So, I decided to make a move and have no regrets."

The 26-year old, who has played six ODIs and two T20Is for India, made his debut for Punjab in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy in 2011. "I want to play for India again, but for that, I need to play. I am being let down by the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA). But it is a thing of the past. I am fit now and it's time to look ahead."

In the Vijay Hazare Trophy last year, he bagged three wickets in as many games for Punjab despite going wicketless in two of them. He played in two Ranji Trophy before that, finishing with two wickets across three innings, and in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy that followed, he got just three wickets in five matches, going wicketless in four of those games.

This season, Punjab, led by Mandeep Singh, also have Shubman Gill in the squad. Being named in the India Test squad that will be taking on South Africa from October 2, Gill is unlikely to play more than three matches in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Punjab are placed in Group B, alongside eight other teams, and will play their first match against Himachal Pradesh on September 25.

Squad: Mandeep Singh (Captain), Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Shubman Gill, Anmolpreet Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Abhishek Sharma, Siddharth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma, Mayank Markande, Karan Kaila, Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Singh, Akul Pandove, Anmol Malhotra, Abhijeet Garg

Rishabh Pant and Navdeep Saini have been named in the 16-member Delhi squad, led by Dhruv Shorey, for the first four games of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, starting on September 24. Shikhar Dhawan has opted out of the squad for now due to personal reasons, according to PTI.

Pant is a part of the Indian team that will be assembling in Visakhapatnam for the opening Test against South Africa on October 2. "Pant is expected to play at least first two to three games for Delhi as he will then report for the national team. Rishabh himself said that he wanted to play," Delhi senior team's chairman of selectors Atul Wassan told PTI.

"Shikhar needs to go back to Australia to attend to some family matters. He has said that he will join the squad at a later date." Former India Under-19 India captain Anuj Rawat has been named Pant's back-up in the squad. Delhi will be starting their campaign against Vidarbha on the opening day of the tournament.

Squad: Dhruv Shorey (captain), Nitish Rana, Rishabh Pant, Himmat Singh, Hiten Dalal, Kunal Chandela, Lalit Yadav, Pawan Negi, Navdeep Saini, Subodh Bhati, Kulwant Khejrolia, Manan Sharma, Kunwar Bhiduri, Vikas Tokas, Tejas Baroka, Anuj Rawat.

Left-arm spinner Atharva Ankolekar, who played a key role in India's Under-19 Asia Cup win, has been named in the 17-member Mumbai squad, led by Shreyas Iyer, for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy. Sarfaraz Khan, who was on a one-year cooling off period following his return to Mumbai last year after three seasons with Uttar Pradesh, has also been named in the squad.

Ankolekar took a match-winning five-for on Saturday against Bangladesh U-19s in a low-scoring thriller and helped India defend their Asia Cup title. Ankolekar's team-mate Yashasvi Jaiswal, who made his Mumbai debut in Ranji Trophy last year, has also been named in this squad.

Ajinkya Rahane, who captained the team last year, will not be available this year due to international commitments. Prithvi Shaw, who is currently serving his suspension for a doping violation, also misses out.

Defending champions Mumbai are in Group A and will be playing all their matches in Bengaluru.

Squad: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Surya Kumar Yadav (vice captain), Jay Bista, Aditya Tare , Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Shubham Ranjane, Eknath Kerkar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Tushar Deshpande, Shams Mulani, Atharva Ankolekar, Shardul Thakur, Siddhesh Lad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kruthik Hanagawadi, Shashank Attarde

Wasim Jaffer has been appointed Vidarbha's interim captain for this season's Vijay Hazare Trophy after Faiz Fazal sustained a hand injury. It is understood that Fazal is likely to return during the course of the tournament and also retain his captaincy.

The 15-member squad also includes India fast bowler Umesh Yadav.

Fazal, one of Vidarbha's batting mainstays in their consecutive Ranji Trophy wins in 2017-18 and 2018-19, suffered the injury while representing India Green in the recently-concluded Duleep Trophy.

"Faiz is still undergoing treatment for the injury," VCA president Anand Jaiswal told Sportstar. "We are still looking into it. Once he is cleared, he will join the side. As of today, since he hasn't recovered, we have announced Wasim as the captain. But the injury is a minor one, not very serious."

Vidarbha are in Elite Group B of the Vijay Hazare Trophy draw, alongside Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Odisha, Baroda, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh, and will begin their campaign against Delhi on September 24.

Vidarbha Squad: Wasim Jaffer (captain), R. Sanjay, Atharva Taide, Ganesh Satish, Rushabh Rathod, Apoorva Wankhede, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Akshay Wadkar (wicketkeeper), Akshay Wakhare, Akshay Karnewar, Aditya Sarvate, Umesh Yadav, Yash Thakur, Darshan Nalkande, Shrikant Wagh.

Opening batsman C Hari Nishanth and left-arm spinner M Siddharth have been named in Tamil Nadu's Vijay Hazare Trophy squad, which will be led by Dinesh Karthik. While R Ashwin, who was named in the probables squad, has been ruled out due to international commitments, M Vijay, who is currently playing in the county championships for Somerset, will join the team after the first two matches.

Allrounder Vijay Shankar, who is recovering from a finger injury, has been included in the 16-member squad but a call on his selection will only be taken before the side's opening game against Rajasthan on September 24. M Shahrukh Khan has been named M Vijay's replacement for the first two matches.

Hari Nishanth made his T20 debut for Tamil Nadu in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy earlier this year, and has represented the Dindigul Dragons in the Tamil Nadu Premier League. He finished among the top run scorers in the tournament this year with 322 runs in 10 matches. Siddharth played for champions Chennai Super Gillies this season, where he picked five wickets in eight games.

Squad: Dinesh Karthik (capt), Vijay Shankar (vice-capt), Abhinav Mukund, M Vijay, Baba Aparajith, M Ashwin, Washington Sundar, R Sai Kishore, N Jagadeesan, T Natarajan, K Vignesh, M Mohammed, M Siddharth, Abhishek Tanwar, C Hari Nishaanth, J Kousik. Reserve: M Shahrukh Khan

Former India pace bowler Sanjeev Sharma has been appointed coach of the Arunachal Pradesh team for the upcoming domestic season. Sanjeev had been coach of the Sikkim team last season and has coached Delhi in the past.

According to Sportstar, the Arunachal Pradesh Cricket Association had initially decided to give an extension to Gursharan Singh, who coached them last season. However, Gursharan was recently named coach of Uttarakhand.

"We apprised the BCCI about the issue and sought its help in getting a replacement. There is not much time in hand and we are glad to welcome Sharma on board," ACA secretary, Kabak Geda, told Sportstar.

Arunachal will be hoping to improve on their performance from the debut season. They were winless in the Ranji Trophy, won two games in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and one in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament.

Under Sanjeev's tenure, Sikkim went winless in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy but performed better in the Ranji Trophy, securing four wins in eight matches in the plate group.

Former India spinner Sunil Joshi has been appointed coach of the Uttar Pradesh Ranji Trophy team for one year, according to PTI. He is set to join the training camp on September 20 before the Vijay Hazare Trophy, which is scheduled to begin on September 24

Joshi, who served as Bangladesh's spin-bowling coach till the World Cup, had applied for the position of India's bowling coach but was not shortlisted.

"We have appointed Sunil Joshi as coach of our team for one year. He will join the camp before the Vijay Hazare Trophy," Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association secretary Yudhvir Singh told PTI.

Former Karnataka fast bowler Mansur Ali Khan had coached the side last season. UP won their maiden, and only, Ranji Trophy title in 2005-06 and have been runners-up five times. They made the quarter-finals last season where they were beaten by Saurashtra.

Gursharan Singh has been named the coach of Uttarakhand for the upcoming domestic season, replacing KP Bhaskar, who has returned to take charge of the Delhi team.

Gursharan, 56, who turned out for Delhi and Punjab in domestic cricket and played one Test and one ODI in 1990, is a prominent coach in Delhi, and has been involved with various state teams since 2007, when he coached Punjab. He has since worked with Assam and, more recently, Arunachal Pradesh.

"I am excited to take my new job," he was quoted as saying by the Hindu. "I know Uttarakhand has a lot of young talent and the team did well last year under Bhaskar's guidance. The team has a wonderful captain in Unmukt [Chand, who shifted this year]. He has a good cricket brain and I am looking forward to work with him."

Last season, their maiden one in the domestic circuit, Uttarakhand topped the Plate Group of the Ranji Trophy, but then lost by an innings and 115 runs to Vidarbha, the eventual champions, in the quarter-finals. They had some decent results in the Vijay Hazare (one-day) Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali (T20) Trophy too. In the 50-over tournament, they came second in the Plate Group with seven wins and a loss, while in the T20s, they had four wins in seven matches.

The Delhi and Districts Cricket Association has re-signed former Delhi batsman KP Bhaskar as head coach of the senior team for the 2019-20 season. Bhaskar, a veteran of 95 first-class matches, helmed debutants Uttarakhand to the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals last season. Rajkumar Sharma, meanwhile, has been named the bowling coach. Sharma, an offspinning allrounder, played nine first-class matches for Delhi but is famously remembered for being Virat Kohli's childhood coach.

Bhaskar had left Delhi in controversial circumstances in 2018 after then captain Gautam Gambhir criticised him for "creating an atmosphere of uncertainty" in the dressing room. Incidentally, it was a season where they finished runners-up to Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy.

With just one win in eight games, Delhi finished bottom of Group B in 2018-19 Ranji Trophy under Mithun Mahnas. They, however, finished runners-up to Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the 50-overs competition. Atul Wassan, the former India bowler, has been named the selection committee chief of the senior team.

Mumbai
Earlier in the week, after months of speculation, Mumbai named Vinayak Samant, the former wicketkeeper, as head coach under controversial circumstances after Sulakshan Kulkarni alleged he wasn't given a fair contract. Under the initial agreement, the Mumbai Cricket Association was to pay Kulkarni a fee of INR 24 lakh for the season. This was later whittled to INR 14 lakh, which Kulkarni rejected.

Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu have appointed former allrounder D Vasu as their head coach, with former captain R Prasanna as his assistant. Dinesh Karthik, meanwhile, has been appointed captain for the upcoming 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Vasu replaced Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the former India allrounder who has moved on to a coaching role at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. Vasu scored 3001 runs and picked up 240 wickets during the course of his 15-year first-class career.

Puducherry
Former Karnataka captain R Vinay Kumar has ended his 15-year career with his home state and will instead turn out for Puducherry in a player-cum-mentor role in the 2019-20 season. Vinay will link up with his old friend J Arunkumar at Puducherry.

Vinay and Arunkumar formed Karnataka's leadership group when they won successive Ranji titles in 2013-14 and 2014-15. They also led Karnataka to the Vijay Hazare and Irani titles, establishing the side as a domestic powerhouse.

Having reportedly turned down an offer from his home state Tamil Nadu and moved from Kerala, wicketkeeper-batsman Arun Karthik will join Vinay at Puducherry.

Former India Under-19 captain Unmukt Chand has parted ways with Delhi after making his first-class debut for them in November 2010. Chand has now signed with Uttarakhand and will captain them in the upcoming domestic season. Meanwhile, offspin-bowling allrounder Malolan Rangarajan, who helped Uttarakhand to the knockouts in the previous season, is set to move back to his home state Tamil Nadu.

Former India wicketkeeper-batsman Ajay Ratra has been appointed Assam's coach for the 2019-20 domestic season. Ratra has had coaching stints with Punjab, Assam Under-19s and NCA in the past.

Ratra, who made his international debut in 2002, played six Tests and 12 ODIs for India. His maiden Test century against West Indies in Trinidad - an unbeaten 115 - made him the fifth-youngest Indian player and the youngest wicketkeeper to score a Test hundred. He played 99 first-class matches, scoring 4029 runs at an average of 30.29, which included eight hundreds and a double-century.

Other movements
Allrounder Stuart Binny and wicketkeeper-batsman CM Gautam, who were part of Karnataka's core along with Vinay when they secured the double-treble, have also opted to move out of their home state this season. Binny will join his former Karnataka team-mate Rongsen Jonathan at Nagaland, while Gautam has switched to Goa.

Among prominent coaches, Sairaj Bahutule has ended his stint with Bengal, and will coach Gujarat, while Sanath Kumar moved from Meghalaya to Baroda.