Kottayam: Middle order batsman Rohan Prem will lead Kerala in the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament slated to begin on October 6.
Fifty-over and Twenty20 captain Sachin Baby has been named Rohan's deputy.
The 15-member team announced in Alappuzha on Tuesday features three outstation players in opener Bhavin Thakkar, Madhya Pradesh all-rounder Jalaj Saxena and Mumbai all-rounder Iqbal Abdulla.
Medium-pacer Vinod Kumar is the lone new face in the team, while experienced seamer Prasanth Parameswaran, who had expressed keen interest to play for his home state after turning out for Tamil Nadu and Goa in the last two seasons, has been overlooked because of injury.
Read also: Can outstation trio help Kerala realize Ranji knockout dream?
Kerala will take on Jammu and Kashmir in their opener at Kalyani in West Bengal on October 6.
According to the new format, all Ranji matches will be held at neutral venues this season.
Kerala are placed in Group C along with Andhra, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Goa, Hyderabad, Haryana, Services and Jammu and Kashmir. The top two teams will make it to the quarterfinals.
The team: Rohan Prem (captain), Sachin Baby (vice-captain), Bhavin Thakkar, Jalaj Saxena, Iqbal Abdulla, Sanju V. Samson, K. S. Monish, Sandeep Warrier, Nikhilesh Surendran, V. A Jagadeesh, Unnikrishnan Manukrishnan, Robert Fernandez, M.D. Nidheesh, Vinod Kumar and Basil Thampi.
The schedule (Kerala’s Ranji matches at neutral venues): vs Jammu and Kashmir, Oct 6-9, Kalyani, West Bengal; vs Himachal Pradesh, Oct 13-16, Kolkata; vs Hyderabad, Oct 20-23, Bhubaneswar; vs Chhattisgarh, Oct 27-30, Jamshedpur; vs Haryana, Nov 5-8, Jaipur; vs Goa, Nov 13-16, Mumbai (CCI); vs Andhra, Nov 21-24, Guwahati; vs Tripura, Nov 29-Dec 2, Barabati, Odisha; vs Services, Dec 7-10, Karnail Singh Stadium, Delhi.
