RP Singh to miss Ranji semi-final

	RP Singh will miss out on a huge opportunity to impress the national selectors © AFP

RP Singh, Uttar Pradesh's left-arm fast bowler, will miss the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Tamil Nadu due to a shoulder injury. RP had missed the quarter-final against Gujarat as well due to a pulled muscle, and this is a further setback to his opportunities of impressing the national selectors.

RP has played three games in the tournament so far, taking ten wickets at an average of 37.10. His absence will be a blow to UP against a strong Tamil Nadu batting line-up, but coach Gyanendra Pandey was confident of his team's bowling resources even without RP.

"We are confident of putting up a good show," he told the Indian Express. "It's not that we lack in bowling in RP's absence; we still have a good bowling attack and we won the last match without RP."

With RP not around, the team will depend heavily on Praveen Kumar, who took five wickets in the first innings against Gujarat, and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, who has been UP's leading bowler with 23 wickets at an average of 22.21.

The semi-final, which will be played in Nagpur, starts on Saturday.