Suresh Raina named Uttar Pradesh captain for Ranji Trophy 2017-18 opener

Veteran Indian batsman Suresh Raina has been announced as the captain of the Uttar Pradesh team for the upcoming season opener of the Ranji Trophy 2017-18. The 2017-18 season of the premier domestic competition of India will kick start on October 6. Uttar Pradesh will begin their campaign against Railways at Lucknow. The UPCA had earlier announced the squad for the tournament but the name of the captain was not revealed.

However, looking at the squad on paper, the name of Suresh Raina stood out as the most experienced name. Now, the state cricket association have confirmed Raina as the captain of the team for the first match of the season. Raina is currently an out of favor candidate in the national set up and hence would want to make this Ranji season count. He needs to score big in order to make a comeback to the national side.

He was recently ignored when the national selectors met to announce the Indian squad for the upcoming T20I series against Australia. While veteran pacer Ashish Nehra managed to make a comeback to the side, the likes of Raina and Yuvraj Singh failed to make the cut yet again. Apparently, both Raina and Yuvraj failed to clear the mandatory yo yo tests. These tests are the fitness drills that the players are expected to undergo to confirm their fitness standards for international selections.

Raina last played in the Indian colors earlier this year. He was the part of the T20I squad that played England in January-February. He had featured in the Bengaluru T20I in that series.

Uttar Pradesh Squad for Ranji Trophy 2017-18

Suresh Raina (Captain), Shivam Chaudhary, Himanshu Asnora, Rinku Singh, Akchdeep Nath, Eklavya Dwivedi, Umang Sharma, Almas Shaukat, Saurabh Kumar, Zeeshan Ansari, Deependra Pandey, Ankit Rajput,Praveen Kumar, Kartik Tyagi, Imtiyaz Ahmad, Israr Azim and Dhruv Pratap Singh.