2017 Deodhar Trophy: Rohit Sharma to captain India Blue; MS Dhoni not picked in either team
The squads for the 2017 Deodhar Trophy, set to begin from the 25th of March have been announced. The two teams- India Blue and India Red- will be joined by Tamil Nadu, who won the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Monday, after beating Bengal in a low-scoring final at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi.
Rohit Sharma, who has been out of international action since the last ODI against New Zealand in Vizag, has been named the captain of the India Blue side, that also has the likes of Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Hooda among others.
Rishabh Pant, who has made major waves in his career in the past 12 months, also found a place in the squad as the wicket-keeper batsman.
The India Red side will be led by Parthiv Patel, who recently made a comeback to the Indian Test team for the series against England in November.
The side comprises of players like Shikhar Dhawan, who will be looking to get back to scoring big, Kedar Jadhav, who like Pant, has grown in stature as a player in the past few months, Manish Pandey, among others.
MS Dhoni, who led Jharkhand to the semifinals of the competition and also had a productive time with the bat, did not find a mention in either squads as he was rested. Pragyan Ojha, who also had a good Vijay Hazare Trophy for Bengal picking up 15 wickets, also did not find a place in either squads.
The three-team competition will begin on Saturday with India A taking on India B. All matches will be played at the YS Rajashekhara Reddy Stadium in Vishakhapatnam and will be Day/Night affairs, starting at 1:30 P.M IST.
The final will be played at the same venue on the 29th of March.
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Here are the squads of both India Blue and India Red
India 'Blue': Rohit Sharma (c), Mandeep Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ambati Rayudu, Manoj Tiwary, Rishabh Pant (wk), Deepak Hooda, Harbhajan Singh, Krunal Pandya, Shahbaz Nadeem, Siddarth Kaul, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Pankaj Rao
India 'Red': Parthiv Patel (c & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, Mayank Agarwal, Kedar Jadhav, Ishank Jaggi, Gurkeerat Mann, Axar Patel, Akshay Karnewar, Ashok Dinda, Kulwant Khejroliya, Dhawal Kulkarni, Govinda Poddar
Here’s the schedule for the games:
| Date | Match |
| March 25th 2017 | India A vs India B |
| March 26th 2017 | India B vs Tamil Nadu |
| March 27th 2017 | India A vs Tamil Nadu |
| March 29th 2017 | Final |