Shreyas Gopal likely to play for Kerala

Kochi: Karnataka allrounder Shreyas Gopal is all set to shift his allegiance to Kerala before the upcoming domestic season. The 29-year-old will be joining the experienced Jalaj Saxena as the second professional guest player in the Kerala squad.“Yes, we have been having discussions with Shreyas for quite some time. He is likely to join us soon though the final modalities of his switch from Karnataka to Kerala are still being worked out,” said KCA secretary Vinod Kumar. Shreyas bowls leg-spin and is a proven star in domestic cricket with hat-tricks to his name in both Irani Cup and Indian Premier League. He has 218 wickets from 76 first-class matches while he has claimed 89 wickets in List A cricket and 95 wickets in T20s in the domestic circuit.Shreyas is also a more than useful batsman in the middle order, averaging close to 35 in first-class cricket. The former India U-19 player is equally adept in all formats and will be a value addition to the Kerala squad.Last season, Kerala had to bank heavily on their senior pros for runs with 34-year-old Sachin Baby and 36-year-old Rohan Prem scoring the bulk of the runs. On the bowling front, allrounder Jalaj Saxena took the lion’s share of wickets.It is learnt that the senior players in the Kerala team had spoken to the KCA management at the end of last season and informed them of the need for a utility cricketer who could be equally useful with both bat and ball. And Shreyas, who has been Sanju Samson’s teammate in IPL at Rajasthan Royals, perfectly fits the bill.
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