Hooda to miss last match; drastic changes in Raj team

Jaipur: The Rajasthan team has been dealt a blow ahead of its last Ranji Trophy 2023-24 fixture against Jharkhand as captain Deepak Hooda will not be available for selection owing to a ‘back issue’. In his absence, the team will be led by left-arm seamer Aniket Choudhary and Manav Suthar will be his deputy. The match will start on February 16 in Jamshedpur.The senior selection committee has announced a 20-member squad for the last game. Pacer Khaleel Ahmed, who was rested for the last tie, is back into the squad. Also, Under-23 opener Zubair Ali Khan, who has scored 221 in the first innings of the ongoing CK Nayudu Trophy match against Chhattisgarh, has been included in the side. The long list of the players has raised several eyebrows as state associations usually give a 15-member squad. Those in the know of things say that ‘there is an attempt to oblige certain district secretaries.’“There are six players, Ganpat Sharma, Punit Mishra, Kamplesh Patel, Jaideep Singh, Sushurt Kulshreshtha and Ramniwas Golada, who don’t have any performance to show. They were not even among the shortlisted players after the trials. Some of them have not even played any age-group cricket. It’s a sorry state of affairs in the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA),” said a source in the state association.Expressing his disappointment, RCA vice-president Shakti Singh Rathore said, “Fair selection is not happening. Not just the senior men’s team, it’s the case with other state cricket teams as well. I have raised my voice, but things haven’t changed.”The playing XI of the last match that Rajasthan lost by 218 runs against Saurashtra was also criticised by the former players. Opener Abhijeet Tomar was made to sit out despite the fact that he was available for selection. He was ‘rested’ for the game that was important for the team in terms of qualification in the knockouts. Tomar has been performing well since the start of the domestic season. With 367 runs in 9 matches, he was also the second highest run-getter in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023-24, in which Rajasthan finished as the runner-up.Squad: Aniket Choudhary (captain), Sumit Godara, Zuber Ali Khan, Mahipal Lomror, Salman Khan, Sushurt Kulshreshtha, Manav Suthar (vice-captain), Arafat Khan, Sahil Dhiwan, Ram Mohan Chouhan, Abhijeet Tomar, Ajay Kookna, Samarpit Joshi, Shubham Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Kamlesh Patel, Ganpat Sharma, Ramniwas Golada, Jaideep Singh and Punit Mishra.