Madhya Pradesh welcome back ICL returnees

Former ICL players Abbas Ali, TP Sudhindra and Shridhar Iyer have taken their first steps to getting back in the official fold, after being included in the 15-member Madhya Pradesh squad for the upcoming Ranji Trophy season. Madhya Pradesh, who will be featuring in the Plate League, will be captained by Hrishikesh Kanitkar, while Jalaj Saxena has been named his deputy.

While both the allrounders Abbas Ali and Sudhindra played for the Delhi Jets in the unofficial league, Iyer turned out for the Mumbai Champs. They made their return to the domestic fray after the BCCI granted amnesty to 79 Indian players who had ended their association with the ICL.

Madhya Pradesh will be hoping to go one better than last season when they qualified for the Plate League semi-finals but lost to eventual winners Himachal Pradesh, who gained promotion to the Super League along with Bengal. They will have their task cut out when they take on Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Services, Assam and Haryana in Group B this season.

Madhya Pradesh squad: Hrishikesh Kanitkar (capt), Naman Ojha (wk), Jalaj Saxena, Abbas Ali, Devendra Bundela, Mohnish Mishra, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Murtaza Ali, Sanjay Pandey, TP Sudhindra, Anand Rajan, Santanu Pitre, Shridhar Iyer, Ankit Sharma, Zafar Ali; Mukesh Sahni (coach), Rajeev Dua (manager)