KCA turns towards Karthik, Srivastava as Jiwanjot rejects offer

The Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) were dealt a blow when Jiwanjot Singh, the Punjab opener, who was offered to join the state team for the next season as the guest player, turned down the offer. The state cricket body is desperately looking for a guest player who can open the innings.

However, the KCA is already looking beyond Jiwanjot and with the help of some of its former players and selectors they have closed in on finalising the guest player. Among those in the running is former Tamil Nadu batsman Arun Karthik and Tanmay Srivastava, the India ‘A’ opener.

The other players who were either approached or who got in contact with the state association are Wasim Jaffer (Vidarbha), Ganesh Satish (Rajasthan) and Paras Dora (Himachal Pradesh).

According to a report in Cricbuzz, KCA secretary Jayesh George said, “Jiwanjot informed us that the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) were reluctant to leave him and he wouldn’t be getting an NOC from them. Uthappa wanted time till August to make up his mind and it wouldn’t be wise on our part to give so much time.

“Our discussions with Arun Karthik has been positive. Moreover, we feel that he can settle into our system well since he is from Tamil Nadu. Though a top-order bat, Arun batted in the middle-order for most of the last season for Assam. That’s the only concern we have. The other option we are looking at is Tanmay Srivastava. He is a left-handed opener with a sound technique. That’s his advantage. We will be formalising the player before we pick our squads for the KSCA trophy.”

Wasim Jaffer keen on playing for Kerala

Jaffer was keen on playing for Kerala the next season, the state association did not respond positively to it. Age became a factor for the 39-year-old Jaffer and the state association decided to overlook him.