Sachin Baby to lead Kerala this Ranji season

Sachin Baby will take over the captaincy of Kerala this domestic season from Rohan Prem. Both Prem and Baby had a magnificent season with the bat but this time around, Baby shoulders the additional pressure of leading the side in order to change the fortunes of Kerala. Baby also led Kerala in limited overs formats.

Sanju Samson and Arun Karthik are expected to strengthen batting along with the likes of Rohan Prem and Sachin Baby. Karthik recently completed his switch from Assam. Vishnu Vinod, exciting wicket-keeping batsman, having made his impressive first-class debut last season, also finds a spot in the 15-member squad even though Mohammed Azharuddeen retained his status as the first choice keeper.

The fast bowling responsibilities would be handed over to IPL star Basil Thampi and Sandeep Warrier while Karaparambil Manish would have to shoulder more responsibility in the spin department with the absence of Iqbal Abdullah who did not feature in the squad. Daryl Ferrario and Sijomon Joseph, who were part of the India Under-19 squad, have been named among the standbys with the former’s presence to be confirmed following a fitness test.

No team ended up with more draws than Kerala last season and as a result, they could finish only fifth in their group and failed to reach the knockouts. Having won only one game, they will hope for a better show this time around, Kerala has also recruited the services of Dav Whatmore as their head coach. They are present in Group B this time alongside defending champions Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Saurashtra.