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Three new faces in Kerala Ranji team

Principal Correspondent

Rakesh, Sambasiva and Prasanth are the three new faces
We do well in away matches: Sony Cheruvathur

— Photo: Vipin Chandran

Sony Cheruvathur.

KOCHI: The new Kerala Ranji Trophy cricket team, announced here on Saturday, is without any heavyweights, but its new coach Vedam Hariharan feels that it offers a good opportunity for the youngsters.

“True, the last five to six years we had to depend heavily on imports for our batting. This year, we don’t have men with heavy records,” said Hariharan, who has coached sides in Australia, Scotland and Ireland earlier. “Players should now stand up to be counted.”

Tamil Nadu’s S. Ramesh and S. Suresh were Kerala’s outstation professional players last year, but this season the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) decided not to entertain any guests.

The 15-member team, led by Sony Cheruvathur, has three new faces, opener Sambasiva Sarma, all-rounder K.J. Rakesh and fast bowler Prasanth Parameshwaran. The team will be for the first two Plate League Group ‘A’ matches, against Vidarbha (in Nagpur, November 3-6) and Services (Palakkad, Nov. 15-18), said the KCA secretary T.C. Mathew.

The team will leave for Bangalore on Sunday and will play a friendly against Karnataka (October 29-31).

Kerala plays four of its five matches away from home but Sony, who will be making his debut as captain, said that it would not be a problem.

“We do very well in away matches for we get tracks where we can use our fast bowlers,” said the 29-year-old SBT player. Former India star Tinu Yohanan and Prasanth Chandran will be leading the pace attack.

Indian star S. Sreesanth spent a few hours at the Nehru Stadium motivating his State-mates. “Sony is one of the most hard-working cricketers in Kerala,” he said.

The team: Sony Cheruvathur (captain), V.A. Jagadeesh (vice-captain), Prasanth Parameshwaran, Sebastian Antony, Sambasiva Sarma, Rohan Prem, Robert Fernandes, Sreekumar Nair, Raiphy Vincent Gomez, Vinan G. Nair (wk), Tinu Yohanan, Prasanth Chandran, S. Aneesh, P. Prasanth, K.J. Rakesh. Coach: Vedam Hariharan.

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