Tiwary to lead East Zone in Deodhar Trophy

Manoj Tiwary, the Bengal batsman, has been named captain of the East Zone side for next month's Deodhar Trophy with Saurabh Tiwary, the 19-year-old Jharkhand batsman, vice-captain. Laxmi Ratan Shukla, the former India allrounder, found a place in the 15-man squad but Shiv Sundar Das, who captained East in the Duleep Trophy, was left out.

Tiwary doesn't lead Bengal in the Ranji Trophy but he didn't think captaincy would adversely affect his batting. "I've always enjoyed captaincy. I have led Under-19 sides and won't be under any pressure," he told Kolkata-based daily the Telegraph. "In fact, if you check the statistics you will find that I have performed better whenever I have been the captain of the side." The only captaincy experience Tiwary has with senior sides is when he led Bengal in the 2007 inter-state Twenty20 tournament.

"I have been playing in the zonal side for the past few years and have observed a few things that I think should be addressed properly to enhance the team's performance," he said. "There are some aspects in which the East Zone sides have been found wanting in the past."

The squad will be coached by former Indian wicketkeeper Sameer Dighe, and have a conditioning camp in Cuttack from March 11.

East are in Group B of the Deodhar Trophy, which is scheduled to start on March 13, and are clubbed with North and Central. After a round of league matches, the teams topping the two groups will face off in the final on March 18.

Squad: Manoj Tiwary (capt), Saurabh Tiwary (vice-capt), Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ranadeb Bose, Ashok Dinda, Natraj Behara, Halhadar Das, Rakesh Mohanty, Preetamjit Das, Ishank Jaggi, Deepak Sharma, Dhiraj Goswami, Tushar Saha, and Rana Dutta