Odisha Cricket Association today announced a 16-member State Senior team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy East Zone Twenty20 League, scheduled to be held at Ranchi, Jharkhand from January 8 to 16, 2018. Middle-order batsman Anurag Sarangi will lead the team with Subhranshu Senapati as his deputy.

Experienced players such as Govinda Poddar, Biplab Samantray, Basant Mohanty and Aravinda Singh have not been included in the team due to their non-availability. The four would be busy playing for their employers Accountant General of Odisha and are expected to join the state team for the second half of the zonal tournament.

In their absence, some new faces including former IPL allrounder Abhishek Rout have been taken in the team. Keonjhar-born Rout earlier played IPL for Rajasthan Royals and domestic cricket for Maharashtra, Mumbai and Goa.

Odisha would play the first of their four league matches against Bengal on January 8. Odisha’s next three matches against Assam, Tripura and Jharkhand are scheduled to take place on January 10, 12 and 16 respectively. The team is set to leave for Ranchi on January 6. East Zone League will be followed by Super League at Kolkata from January 21 to 27, 2018.

ODISHA T-20 TEAM: Sandeep Patnaik, Anurag Sarangi (Captain), Rajesh Dhuper (WK), Paresh Patel, Subhranshu Senapati (Vice-captain), Devender Singh Kunwar, Prayas Kumar Singh, Abhishek Rout, Suryakanta Pradhan, Alok Sahoo, Debabrata Pradhan, Jayanta Behera, Ashutosh Das, Debasish Samantray, Lagnajit Samal.
Support Staff: Mehtab Khan (Manager), Shiv Sundar Das (Coach), Subhakant Sahoo (Physio), Manoj Biswal (Trainer).

EAST ZONE FIXTURE:
January 8: Odisha vs Bengal and Assam vs Tripura
January 10: Odisha vs Assam and Jharkhand vs Tripura
January 12: Odisha vs Tripura and Jharkhand vs Bengal
January 14: Jharkhand vs Assam and Bengal vs Tripura
January 16: Odisha vs Jharkhand and Assam vs Bengal