The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Sreekumar Nair is Kerala captain

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Monday, Nov 29, 2004

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Sreekumar Nair is Kerala captain

By Our Sports Reporter

PALAKKAD, NOV. 28. Sreekumar Nair is the new Kerala cricket captain. The 26-year-old takes over from Sunil Oasis, who stepped down at the end of the Ranji Trophy Plate match against Orissa here on Sunday.

Sreekumar's first assignment is the away match against Jharkhand, to be held at Jamshedpur from December 4 to 7. "It's a great honour being the captain of your State side and I'm happy I've been given this opportunity," he told The Hindu.

"I hope we could achieve in our three remaining matches what we could not in the last two and qualify for the Elite division."

Sreekumar, who made his Ranji debut in 1997, has been one of the most dependable batsmen for Kerala and is also a more than useful left-arm spinner. He played for India in the 1998 under-19 World Cup and India `A' against England `A' last year.

He captained Kerala in the one-dayers last year and has also led the State in all the age-group competitions ever since he moved base from Nagpur.

The outgoing captain Sunil Oasis said he thought the team needed a new leader after the disappointing show in the last two outings.

"I hope Sreekumar will bring luck to the team, like he did in the one-dayers last year, when we finished runner-up under him," said Sunil, who led the side over the last four seasons.

There are three changes in the Kerala team for the Jharkhand match. Wicket-keeper C.M. Deepak makes way for Mauzzam Nathani, while Abhishek Hegde and S. Aneesh, who are in the Kerala under-19 squad, are replaced by Sony Cheruvathur and S. Ramakrishnan.

The team:

Sreekumar Nair (captain), M. Suresh Kumar (vice-captain), Sebastian Antony, A.V. Jagadeesh, Ajay Kudua, Sunil Oasis, K. Chandrasekhara, M.P. Sorab, Mauzzam Nathani, K. Chandrasekhara, K.N. Ananthapadmanabhan, S. Ramakrishnan, Sony Cheruvathur, Tinu Yohannan, S. Sreeshanth and Prasanth Chandran.

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