Four key cricketers miss senior UTCA men’s trials in Chandigarh

CHANDIGARH: Four key players of the Chandigarh senior men’s team missed the pre-season trials conducted by the

UT Cricket Association

in three phases at two venues in the Tricity.


Veteran all-rounder Bipul Sharma, and his spin twin Gurinder Singh, along with middle-order batsman Ankit Kaushik and medium pacer

Jaskaran Buttar

missed the trials, which were conducted under the supervision of UTCA - Manager Operations Manjit Singh on Tuesday. All three selectors - Sanjay Dhull, Vineet Jain and Gurendra Singh were also present on the occasion.

While Gurinder is playing in England, Jaskaran has been plying his trade in Canada, and Ankit and Bipul are in the US, playing for their respective sides. The quartet, however, won’t be required to feature in the trials and are expected to gain automatic entry into the squad.

“All the four players have taken due permission from the UTCA to play overseas cricket, since it was difficult to play in the country considering the second wave of the Covid-19 situation. But there was one condition when the permission was granted, we wanted them to keep us regularly updated on their performances for their respective sides,” Manjit Singh told TOI.

“All the four are established players, and they are in touch with us.”

Manjit further said that the UTCA wanted to keep their teams ready for the upcoming season, and despite the monsoon affecting the smooth conduct of trials, they are figuring out on getting the best possible combinations.

“Since the BCCI announced the itinerary for the domestic season some weeks back, it was very difficult to conduct the trials during the monsoon, So, the UTCA decided to hold it in phases, we conducted the first phase last month, but the rains forced us to change the venue,” he said.

The trials were conducted in three phases, in which the first phase of trials was held on July 10 at the

Cricket

Stadium in Sector 16. Due to poor weather conditions, the trials had to be postponed for Tuesday wherein the remaining two phases were conducted before and after lunch. The second and third phases were held at the Tricity Indoor Cricket Academy, Peermuchalla in Zirakpur.

UTCA president Sanjay Tandon said that around 120 applications were received for the senior team trials and everyone was invited to showcase their talent. During the trials, 97 players turned up. The trials for all categories of girls will be conducted on Wednesday after which the trials of remaining categories of boys would be announced.

Coaches, support staff appointments next week

The UTCA has almost finalized the candidates for coaches and support staff, including a new set of selectors, and could likely announce it by next week. TOI had reported on July 11, that the UTCA had invited fresh applications for the support staff, including coaches and selection panel.

“It is in the final stages, we are likely to make the appointments by next week. It will help build the team composition and the new set of selectors and coaches will get enough time to get a hang of their new roles before the start of the season,” Singh said.

This time, the BCCI has announced the domestic schedule with the Ranji Trophy returning to the itinerary, after the tournament was cancelled last season due to the pandemic. Besides the traditional four-day meet, the board will also conduct the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, the Vijay Hazare one dayers apart from women’s one day league, women’s one day challenger trophy and women’s T-20 league along with the junior tournaments.

In the truncated 2020-21 domestic season, the Chandigarh men’s team played the Vijay Hazare one-dayers in March early this year. Placed in the Elite Group for the first time in the 50-over games, the Manan Vohra-led team narrowly missed entering the knock-out stage with a second-place finish in their group.

In January, the Chandigarh team had played the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tourney, where luck again evaded them as they narrowly missed the cut for the knockouts despite winning four successive games after their opener was washed out.

Meanwhile, with the women’s one day league in September, kick-starting the season, the Chandigarh girls are also fine-tuning their skills and are keen to get into the thick of the action after being indoors since the senior women’s one dayers in March due to the second wave of the pandemic.