Monty Panesar eyes playing for Puducherry in the Ranji Trophy

Mudhsuden Singh Panesar, aka Monty Panesar, hasn’t had the smoothest of careers by any means. After he burst on to the scenes in 2006, the tweaker was expected to end England’s ever-lasting legacy of producing negative spinners. He was an absolute revelation and also did exceedingly well in the 2012 tour of India. After Graeme Swann’s retirement, Panesar was set to take charge.

But that wasn’t the case as his career came under the clouds in 2013 after he urinated on a nightclub bouncer. It was the same year when he last played international cricket. Thereafter, he only played a handful of matches in the domestic circuit with his last being contest being a first-class affair back in July 2016. However, he hasn’t retired yet and is now eyeing to play the Ranji Trophy in India.

It has been learned that the 37-year-old is planning to play for Puducherry, who he believes signs overseas players. Monty Panesar hasn’t shelved his dreams of playing county cricket either and is working out of his skins to find a team in England’s domestic cricket. His last county was Northamptonshire.

Panesar confident of making Ranji debut

“I am still trying to play professional cricket, but I have not found a County (team) yet. I am still working hard to find a County. I may try and play Ranji Trophy this year. I think there is one team Puducherry that allows overseas players to play,” Panesar was quoted as saying in The Telegraph.

A Puducherry team official mentioned that three outstation players have been signed, but didn’t give any sort of confirmation on Panesar’s participation in the tournament. “Three outstation players have been finalised. But there’s no clue regarding Monty’s inclusion,” the official said.

The three outstation players are Karnataka’s Vinay Kumar, Tamil Nadu’s Arun Karthik and Himachal Pradesh’s Paras Dogra. Monty Panesar also was impressed by England’s show in the World Cup and the diversity in the team.

“The spinners have played an important role in England’s World Cup win. There’s certainly an amazing diversity in this English side… You’ve got an Irishman, players of New Zealand and Pakistani origins, and it shows that a team with such diversity can really be strong,” he added.

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