Sports: The Jharkhand State Cricket Association announced their team for the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 season on Wednesday, October 9. The star batter Ishan Kishan has been named captain to lead the team in India's premier First-Class tournament starting on October 11.

The 26-year-old famously withdrew his name from the last edition squad which reportedly triggered the BCCI to drop him from the central contracts list. After the BCCI's strict push for the non-selected players to play domestic cricket regularly, the wicketkeeper batter recently returned to First-Class cricket and featured in the Duleep Trophy and Iran Cup fixtures.

Ishan succeeded the veteran Saurabh Tiwary as Jharkhand captain after the latter announced a retirement at the end of the last season. Virat Singh, who was a designated captain last season, has been appointed as a vice-captain for the 2024-25 season. 

With Saurabh Tiwary, Shahbaz Nadeem and Varun Aaron retiring earlier this year, Jharkhand have named the young squad for the upcoming Ranji Trophy edition. Kumar Kushagra has been named the designated wicketkeeper ahead of Ishan Kishan. 

"Ishan is an experienced player and he has international experience," Jharkhand's selection committee chairman Subroto Das said.  "We have picked a very young team. Saurabh Tiwary, Shahbaz Nadeem and Varun Aaron had all retired after last season so we had to rethink our strategy. Ishan is capable of leading this young side and we're confident of doing well this Ranji season."

Ishan scored a brilliant century in his first innings in the recent Duleep Trophy fixtures for India C but then registered three consecutive low scores. He also played as a batter for the Rest of India in the Irani Cup clash against Mumbai and scored 38 runs in the first innings. 

Jharkhand squad for Ranji Trophy 2024-25

Ishan Kishan (c), Virat Singh (vc), Kumar Kushagra (wk), Nazim Siddique, Aryaman Sen, Sharandeep Singh, Kumar Suraj, Anukul Roy, Utkarsh Singh, Supriyo Chakraborty, Saurabh Shekhar, Vikas Kumar, Vivekanand Tiwary, Manishi, Ravi Kumar Yadav and Raunak Kumar.