Bhubaneswar: The game of musical chairs continues in Odisha cricket team’s captaincy.
Govinda Poddar was on Saturday named Ranji Trophy skipper as senior men’s selection committee chairman Amiya Ray and head coach Surendra Bhave announced the squad for the first two matches of the 2024-25 Ranji season.
Poddar replaces opener Shantanu Mishra, who had led Odisha’s Ranji team last season. Shantanu is, however, part of the 17-member squad that will face Tripura in Agartala and Jammu & Kashmir at Barabati Stadium.
Interestingly, Odisha had different captain for the three formats in the 2023-24 BCCI domestic season. While Shantanu led the Ranji team, Biplab Samantaray was at the helm in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 50-over meet and Poddar in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 championship.
Odisha, placed in Elite Group A along with holders and 42-time champions Mumbai, finished a poor seventh among eight teams in Elite Group D last season.
ODISHA SQUAD FOR FIRST 2 RANJI MATCHES
Govinda Poddar (Captain), Shantanu Mishra, Anurag Sarangi, Sandeep Pattanaik, Biplab Samantaray, Kartik Biswal, Swastik Samal, Rajesh Dhupa (WK), Aashirwad Swain (WK), Anil Parida, Suryakant Pradhan, Sunil Roul, Rajesh Mohanty, Debabrata Pradhan, Tarani Sa, Harshit Rathod, Sumit Sharma
ODISHA’S RANJI FIXTURES FOR 2024-25 SEASON
* Oct 11-14 — Tripura vs Odisha (MBB Stadium, Agartala)
* Oct 18-21 — Odisha vs J & K (Barabati Stadum, Cuttack)
* Oct 26-29 — Baroda vs Odisha (Kotambi Stadium, Vadodara)
* Nov 6-9 — Mumbai vs Odisha (SPCA, BKC i)
* Nov 13-16 — Odisha vs Maharashtra (Barabati Stadium, Cuttack)
* Jan 23-26, 2025 — Meghalaya vs Odisha (Polo Ground, Shillong)
* Jan-2 Feb, 2025 — Odisha vs S Services (DRIEMS ground, Cuttack).
