Parvez Rasool to lead, Irfan Pathan named vice-captain as JKCA announce Ranji Trophy squad

A 16-member squad was announced by Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association on Saturday, with Parvez Rasool named skipper and Irfan Pathan his deputy for the first two matches of the Ranji Trophy.

Parvez Rasool, the lone international cricketer from J&K, has been leading the side for quite a long time while Irfan Pathan joined the team as player cum mentor earlier this year. The all-rounder duo has lately been struggling to make a comeback to the Indian team.

Irfan, 34, last played an international match for India in 2012 and Parvez too has remained out of the national scene since January 2017. Both were part of J&K in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy but ended up putting in average performances.

The former scored 79 runs and scalped 11 wickets while the latter made 179 runs and picked 10 wickets in 8 and 9 matches respectively.

They would be hoping to improve these numbers during the Ranji Trophy in order to earn a national call-up.

The J&K squad seems quite balanced with the addition of few prospects in the batting department, which was quite unimpressive in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Southpaw Owais Shah and wicket-keeper batsman Obaid Haroon are making their return to the side. However, promising opener, Imran Haroon has been yet again left out of the team, despite some pretty stellar numbers.

Fazil Rashid and Shubham Pundir who had a forgettable outing in the List-A competition have been given one more opportunity for the first two matches.

The team is expected to leave for Jaipur tomorrow and they will face Rajasthan at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on November 1st.

The squad is as follows: Parvez Rasool (C), Irfan Pathan, Shubham Khajuria, Ahmad Banday, Shubham Pundir, Ian Dev Singh, Owais Shah, Obaid Haroon, Waseem Raza, Amir Aziz, Mohammad Mudhasir, Umar Nazir, Akash Chaudhary, Fazil Rashid, Rohit Sharma, Paras Sharma