Two more outsourced players have been named in the 17-member Odisha Senior Mens cricket team for their first two Ranji Trophy matches of the 2026-27 season, scheduled to be played against Gujarat and Kerala later this month.

Of the two imports, batting allrounder Ninad Rathva (Left-hand batter and left-arm orthodox spin bowler) hails from Vadodara, Gujarat, and bowler Lalit Yadav (Right-arm medium-fast) belongs to Vidarbha, Maharashtra.

Rathva has the credentials of playing 18 First Class, 29 List A and 53 T20 matches for Baroda till date. The 27-year-old allrounder made both of his First-Class and List-A debut against Odisha in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

Yadav has represented Vidarbha in 31 First Class, eight List A and 10 T20 matches so far. Incidentally, the 30-year-old bowler made his First-Class debut against Odisha in a Ranji Trophy match at Visakhapatnam in October 2016.

With the addition of the two imports the total number of outsourced players in Odisha senior mens team increased to three. Top-order batter Gourav Choudhary, who belongs to Uttar Pradesh, has been playing for Odisha since 2021.

Subhranshu Senapati will lead the Odisha team, which includes four new faces in Om T Munde, Shreyansh Bhardwaj, Soumya Lenka and Sambit Beja. Odisha senior men are scheduled to play their first Ranji match against Gujarat at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad from October 11 to 14. They next meet Kerala at Sports Hub International Cricket Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram October 18 to 21.

The team was officially announced by Odisha Cricket Association Senior Men Selection Committee chairman Kulamani Parida and team head coach Pravanjan Mullick yesterday. However, eye-brows were raised as prominent cricketers such as Govind Poddar, Biplab Samantray, Abhishek Yadav, Debabrata Pradhan, Anil Parida and Sumit Sharma did get the selectors nod.

ODISHA TEAM FOR FIRST TWO MATCHES: Swastik Samal, Subhranshu Senapati (captain), Om T Munde, Gourav Choudhary, Shreyansh Bhardwaj, Sandeep Pattanaik, Shantanu Mishra, Aashirwad Swain (wk), Dinesh Majhi (wk), Ninad Rathva, Lalit Yadav, Rajesh Mohanty, Prashant Rana, Soumya Lenka, Sambit Beja, Sayed Tufayl Ahmad, Badal Biswal.
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PHOTO: Selection committee chairman Kulamani Parida (Left) and team head coach Pravanjan Mullick announce the Odisha Senior Men Cricket Team for Ranji Trophy in Cuttack on 5 October 2026.