Ranji Trophy 2015: In J&K, two teams on eve of opener

WITH only a day to go for their opening Ranji Trophy encounter against Kerala, the Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) team led by new captain Mithun Manhas are going through their pre-match preparation in Srinagar. The Manhas-led squad had been announced by the Imran Reza Ansari-led faction a few days earlier. But in a sudden twist, the Farooq Abdulla group, who are presently embroiled in a bitter legal battle for the J&K Cricket Association chair with Ansari & Co, have also announced their squad, which doesn’t even include Manhas, and instead has Parvez Rasool at the helm.

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Ajay Jadeja not travelling with Delhi team

The Delhi cricket team’s chief coach Ajay Jadeja did not travel with the team for the first game against Rajasthan. DDCA vice-president Chetan Chauhan said that Jadeja could not travel because of a personal reason. “Ajay will join the team in a day or two because his son was injured and he is currently nursing him. He has informed us about that and for the time being assistant coach Amit Bhandari is to look after the team alongwith the support staff,” Chauhan stated.

Yuvraj Singh ready to mentor young Punjab side

Punjab begin their campaign against Railways and Yuvraj Singh, who is captaining the side in the absence of Harbhajan Singh, believes he can mentor the younger players and help them fulfil their potential. “I will to get the best out of the youngsters. It is important that somebody who has played at the top level guides them. Whatever I learnt from my seniors like Sachin, Saurav or Rahul, I will pass to this bunch of players. Sandeep (Sharma) has already played for India and Gurkeerat (Mann) is in the Indian ODI team against South Africa,” Yuvraj said.

Round One Fixtures: Assam vs Karnataka, Guwahati; Vidarbha vs Orrisa, Nagpur; Maharashtra vs Haryana, Pune; Rajasthan vs Delhi, Jaipur; Tamil Nadu vs Baroda, Chennai; Uttar Pradesh vs Madhya Pradesh, Moradabad; Punjab vs Railways, Mohali; Andhra vs Mumbai, Vizianagaram; Services vs Jharkhand, New Delhi.