Even as the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament is in progress, middle-order batsman Kumar Deobrat has replaced southpaw Saurabh Tiwary as captain of Jharkhand team against Andhra Pradesh starting January 5.
Tiwary, who has led the team in the first three matches against Assam, Tripura and Kerala, wanted to concentrate more on his batting and expressed willingness to step down as captain after the first three matches, Rajesh Verma, Secretary of Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) said here today.
"He (Tiwary) urged JSCA in writing to step down, which has been accepted," Verma said. He added that Deobrat, who was the vice-captain of the Under-19 Indian Team couple years ago, has been named as Captain of the team in place of Tiwary.
Jharkhand have secured total five points from three matches after they notched up three points by virtue of their first innings lead against Assam and two drawn ties against Tripura and Kerala, he said.
JSCA announced a 15-member team to represent the Jharkhand squad against Andhra Pradesh, for the Ranji Group C league match from January 5 to 8 at Vizinagram (Andhra).
Medium Pacer Jaskaran Singh was the only change in the team in place of spinner Sunny Gupta.
Following are the members of the team: Rameez Nemat, Saurabh Tiwary, Ishank Jaggi (Vice Captain), Ishan Kishan, Virat Singh, Kumar Deobrat (Captain), Sumit Kumar, Rituraj Singh, Ajay Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem, Samar Quadri, Ashish Kumar, Prakash Kumar Munda, Jaskaran Singh, Kaushal Singh.
