Asnodkar to lead Goa in Ranji Trophy

Swapnil Asnodkar has been named as Goa's captain for the Ranji Trophy, starting from their opening Plate Division match against Kerala on Novemeber 3. J Arun Kumar, who led the team during their last campaign, has been appointed vice-captain in the 14-member squad.

Asnodkar came into the spotlight after impressing in the inaugural IPL, aggregating 311 runs from nine matches for the Rajasthan Royals to help them win the title. He was subsequently named in the A squad for the one-day tri-series involving Australia A and New Zealand A in October. However, a poor performance meant he was overlooked for the Challengers - which served as the trials for the ODI series against England at home.

Asnodkar was the leading scorer run-scorer for Goa in the 2007-08 season with 568 runs from four matches at 113.60, including an unbeaten 254.

Goa and Kerala are placed in Group A of the Plate League along with Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand while Assam, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Services, Tripura and Vidarbha make up Group B. A finish as one of the top two in the group will earn them a semifinal place and making the final would mean an automatic promotion to the Super League.

Team: Swapnil Asnodkar (capt), J Arun Kumar (vice-capt), Sagun Kamat, Ambey Parvatkar, Ajay Ratra (wk), Shatab Jakati, Aditya Angle, Ryan D'Souza, Advit Katkar, Santosh Shinde, Aniket Desai, Sahil Dhuri, Ryan Ninan, Saurabh Bhandekar. Coach: Dodda Ganesh (coach)