Ranji Trophy 2021-22: KCA announce state team probables, Sachin Baby to lead

Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) on December 26 (Sunday) named the state team probables for the upcoming Ranji Trophy 2021-22 season, set to get underway from January 13. Sachin Baby will lead the team, with wicketkeeper-batter Vishnu Vinod as his deputy, while senior pacer S Sreesanth has been included as well.

Kerala, who are placed in Elite Group B, will begin their campaign against Vidarbha from January 13-16, followed by fixtures against Bengal (January 20 to 23), Rajasthan (January 27 to 30), Tripura (February 3 to 6) and Haryana (February 10 to 13).

All the teams, divided into six groups, will be playing their games in six cities – Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Trivandrum and Chennai, with the final set to be played on March 16 to 20. Kolkata has been earmarked as the venue for the knockouts, scheduled from February 20, whereas the quarter-finals will be played from February 28 to March 3, followed by the semi-finals from March 8 to 12.

Kerala State Team Probables for Ranji Trohy 2021-22

Sachin Baby (c), Vishnu Vinod (vc, wk), Anand Krishnan, Rohan Kunnumel Vatsal Govind, Rahul P, Salman Nizar, Sanju Samson, Jalaj Saxena, Sijo Mon Jopseph Akshay K C, Mithun, Basil N P, Nideesh M D, Manu Krishnan, Basil Thampi Fanoos F, Sreeshanth S, Akshay Chandran, Varun Nayanar K), Anand Jospeh Vinoop Manoharan, Arun M, Vaishak Chandran

Kerala Support Staff

Head Coach: Sri. Tinu Yohannan Coach: Sri. Mazhar Moidu,

Trainer: Sri. Vyshakh Krishna

Physiotherapist: Sri. Unnikrishnan RS

Video Analyst: Sri. Saji S

Ranji Trophy 2021-22 Groups

There are total six groups, including five Elite ones, which have six teams each, and one plate group comprising eight teams. Group C is being labelled as the group of death, with Mumbai, Karnataka and Delhi slotted in together alongside Hyderabad, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand.

Elite A: Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal, Madhya Pradesh, Services and Assam (in Mumbai)

Elite B: Bengal, Vidarbha, Rajasthan, Kerala, Haryana and Tripura(in Bangalore)

Elite C: Karnataka, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand (in Kolkata)

Elite D: Saurashtra, Tamil Nadu, Railways, J & K, Jharkhand and Goa (in Ahmedabad)

Elite E: Andhra, Uttar Pradesh, Baroda, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Pondicherry (in Trivandurm)

Plate Group: Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal (in Chennai)