Ranji Trophy 2021-22: Cheteshwar Pujara added to Saurashtra's 21-member squad for upcoming season

India’s Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara is added to the Saurashtra squad for the upcoming Ranji Trophy season which will be divided into two phases. The league matches are set to start from February 17 and the defending champions Saurashtra have placed in Group D alongside Mumbai, Goa and Odisha. Left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat will be leading the side as he led the state in the previous season in 2019 to their first-ever Ranji Trophy victory.

This will be a big test for Pujara who has been under the scanner for not scoring a Test century for the last three years and is on the verge of losing out his spot in the Indian team as well. He managed just 124 runs in 6 innings in the recent tour to South Africa and hit just one fifty throughout the series. Another Test veteran alongside Pujara, who has been going through a similar rough patch of form has been Ajinkya Rahane and he will be playing for Mumbai under Prithvi Shaw in the upcoming season.

The 34-year-old Pujara has played 95 Tests for India scoring 6713 runs at an average of 43.9 and he was one of the vital cogs in their historic series victory over Australia last year. BCCI President Sourav Ganguly recently advised both the out of form cricketers Pujara and Rahane to play Ranji trophy games to make sure they get back their old touch.

Saurashtra’s squad for upcoming Ranji Trophy season

Meanwhile, Saurashtra named a 21-member squad with a lot of familiar names and one of the new additions to the squad has been IPL sensation Chetan Sakariya. The left-arm seamer was handed his IPL debut last season and he went on to make his international debut as well after impressing in the cash-rich league.

Saurashtra 2022 Ranji squad: Jaydev Unadkat (Captain), Cheteshwar Pujara, Sheldon Jackson, Arpit Vasavada, Chirag Jani, Kamlesh Makwana, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Chetan Sakariya, Prerak Mankad, Vishvarajsinh Jadeja, Harvik Desai, Kevin Jivrajani, Kushang Patel, Jay Chauhan, Samarth Vyas, Parthkumar Bhut, Yuvrajsinh Chudasama, Devang Karamta, Snell Patel, Kishan Parmar and Aditya Jadeja.