Shiv Sundar Das appointed as the coach of Odisha Ranji Team

39-year old Shiv Sunder Das has been appointed as the coach of the Odisha’s senior and Ranji team by the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA). Das replaced former India fast bowler Debasish Mohanty as the coach. Mohanty was the coach of state team since January 2011, replacing  Australia’s Michael Bevan. It was reported that Mohanty had to leave the position for personal reasons. It was also believed that Mohanty had a rift with some of the senior statesmen and he didn’t even travel with the team on the last two occasions.

The OCA at its working committee meeting held at Cuttack yesterday also appointed Suresh Kumar, Kulamani Parida and Subrat Behera as coaches of the state’s Under-23, Under-19 and Under-16 men’s cricket teams, respectively. Deepak Mangaraj will serve as the chairman of the committee for junior U19 and U16 teams, while Bishnudev Mohanty was appointed as the chairman of the selection committee for Ranji and U22.

A veteran in the Odisha dressing room

Das has represented Indian in 23 Test matches, scoring 1326 runs at an average of 34.89. He has also scored 2 hundreds and nine fifties. In 4 ODIs, Das managed 39 runs. He has played 180 first-class matches for Odisha, and scored 10908 runs at an average of 38.68, along with 24 centuries and 52 fifties. He also managed to pick 4 first-class wickets, bowling his right-arm medium pace. Das made his Test debut for India against Bangladesh in 2000. And played the last Test in 2002 against West Indies in Kingston.

Seasoned campaigner

The 39-year-old made his first-class debut in 1993/94 Ranji Trophy and played for Odisha till 2012. At one point of time, Das was India’s solution for the opening position. Even though, he didn’t feature in the Indian line-up post the West Indies series, the right-handed batsman went on to play for the state side on a consistent basis. He was a seasoned campaigner for Odisha.