ESPNcricinfo tracks player movements before the start of India’s 2013-14 domestic season
ESPNcricinfo staff14-Aug-2013Ramesh Powar will play for Rajasthan for the next two domestic seasons•ESPNcricinfo Ltd
KB Pawan moves to Tripura
Karnataka’s KB Pawan has moved to Tripura for the season. Pawan was a regular opener for Karnataka but lost his place to KL Rahul last season. The right-handed wicketkeeper-batsman has played 44 first-class matches for Karnataka, scoring 2642 runs at an average of 37.21.Punjab’s Bipul Sharma moves to Himachal Pradesh
Allrounder Bipul Sharma, who was with Punjab until last season, will turn up for Himachal Pradesh in 2013-14. He made his debut for Punjab in 2005, and has played 14 first-class and 52 List A matches. He has five fifties, and a highest score of 93 in first-class cricket to go with 19 wickets at 41.63. The 30-year-old has also played one game for India A against Scotland in 2010.Karnataka’s Abhishek Bhat moves to Saurashtra
Abhishek Bhat, 24, will be among Saurashtra’s ranks this season. He has played club cricket in Karnataka, appearing in the Safi Darasha Tournament, but is yet to make his debut in first-class or List A formats.Gujarat’s Avi Barot moves to Haryana
Wicketkeeper-batsman Avi Barot has transferred from Gujarat to Haryana for this season. The 21-year-old cricketer, who has also represented India Under-19, made his debut for Gujarat in 2011 and has played four first-class matches so far, scoring 118 runs at an average of 19.66. In 12 List A games, Barot has scored 296 runs at an average of 24.66 with three fifties.Rajasthan’s Rashmi Parida moves to Vidarbha
Batsman Rashmi Parida has transferred from Rajasthan to Vidarbha for the 2013-14 season. Parida, 36, played 29 Ranji games for Rajasthan, scoring 1536 runs with two centuries. He was part of the team’s title victories in 2011 and 2012. Parida started his career with his native Orissa in 1994-95 before shifting to Assam for the 2008-09 season. He spent the next four seasons with Rajasthan.Himachal’s Bhavin Thakkar, Gujarat’s Bhavik Thaker move to Jharkhand
Middle-order batsman Bhavin Thakkar will play for Jharkhand in the 2013-14 season. Thakkar, 31, last played a first-class game in 2010, for Himachal Pradesh. He has played 37 first-class games in all, scoring 1924 runs at 35.62, with five tons and 10 fifties. Before Himachal, Thakkar had played for Mumbai. He changed teams, Thakkar told the , because getting a chance to play was most important to him: “You know Mumbai cricket. There is always someone good to replace you. It’s part of the job. You’ve got to accept it. Sometimes, the selectors feel someone else is doing a better job than you. I have no regrets. I played with pride for Mumbai, but playing this game is more important to me than anything else.”Gujarat’s Bhavik Thaker also moved to Jharkhand. The batsman, who made his first-class debut in 2003, was a part of the Gujarat squad for the Ranji trophy in the 2012-13 season, but didn’t get a game. His last first-class game for Gujarat was in December 2011, while his last List A game for his home state was in February 2012. In 55 first-class games, Thaker has 3000 runs at an average of 40 with six hundreds and 19 fifties.Sanjeev Sharma replaces Dahiya as Delhi coach
Sanjeev Sharma, the former India seamer, has replaced former keeper Vijay Dahiya as Delhi’s coach. A Delhi District Cricket Association official told Dahiya was sacked because of his IPL commitments. “He wasn’t available for the whole season,” the official said. “He is associated with Kolkata Knight Riders and during the second phase when we prapare for Vijay Hazare Trophy, he will be busy with Knight Riders camps. Now we don’t want somebody who can’t devote full attention towards Delhi cricket.” Sanjeev Sharma, who played two Tests and 23 ODIs, and 89 first-class games and 61 List A games in a career spanning two decades – 1983 to 2003 – was Delhi’s assistant coach previous to this.Ashok Malhotra Bengal’s new coach
Ashok Malhotra will take over as coach of the Bengal senior team for the 2013-14 season, replacing former India batsman WV Raman, who had cut his term short in July citing family reasons. Malhotra, a middle-order batsman, had played seven Tests and 20 ODIs between 1982 and 1986. He was prolific on the domestic scene for Bengal though, at one time the record holder for the most runs in the Ranji Trophy: 7274 at 52.49 with 18 hundreds. After retiring, Malhotra had a run as a Test selector. He will have a job on his hands turning around Bengal’s fortunes, as they had a poor 2012-13 season, winning only one Ranji game in eight and losing four to finish seventh out of nine teams in Group A.Ganguly on Bengal’s coaching committee
Sourav Ganguly has been named chairman of Bengal’s cricket coaching committee. The committee’s primary job will be to organise coaching camps in Bengal to develop the cricketers in the state. Ganguly was previously head of Bengal’s cricket development committee.Powar joins Rajasthan
Ramesh Powar, one of Mumbai’s leading spinners, has moved from the domestic powerhouse to two-time champions Rajasthan for the next two seasons. Powar, who played two Tests for India, failed to find a spot in Mumbai’s playing XI on consistent basis last season. He finished the season with five first-class games and took six wickets at an average of 82.16. Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the former India allrounder who has been leading Rajasthan for three years, approached Powar and the offspinner agreed to take up the challenge of playing as a professional for Rajasthan.Sunderam appointed as Rajasthan coach
After succumbing to the pressure of entering the Ranji Trophy as defending champions for two successive seasons and finishing second from bottom in the group stage in 2012-13, the Rajasthan Cricket Association unveiled new plans to revive its team’s fortunes. One of the key decisions is Pradeep Sunderam’s appointment as head coach. Sunderam, a former Rajasthan pace bowler, has been instrumental in shaping young talent from Mumbai for well over a decade as the under-22 coach and bowling coach of the MCA academy. In the absence of a head coach, captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar and bowling coach Meyrick Pringle worked as the strategists’ team. Sunderam’s name was recommended by former India wicketkeeper Chandrakant Pandit, who had to resign from the post of RCA’s director of cricket last September following his appointment as the chairman of the national junior selection panel.WV Raman to coach Tamil NaduFormer India opener WV Raman will coach Tamil Nadu for the next two seasons, following a contract with the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. Raman, who was coach of the TN side between 2006 and 2010, recently stepped down from a three-year stint as coach of the Bengal team. “Quite obviously, when your home state wants you to come and help them out, you tend to lean towards it,” Raman told . “You are a part of the Association, you have played for the state for a long time and you now have the opportunity of ensuring that the team is put back on track. Most of the boys who should figure in the scheme of things going forward were under me in my first stint here. Things have since gone southwards. That is probably the biggest attraction for me – to try and get them up and going again, like in my previous stint.”<!– COMMENTED OUTHarmeet to play for Vidarbha
Harmeet Singh, the young left-arm spinner from Mumbai who was in the news after being questioned in the IPL spot-fixing probe, will play for Vidarbha in the forthcoming domestic season. After drawing praise from the likes of Ian Chappell during India’s triumphant Under-19 World Cup campaign last year, Harmeet played for Rest of India during the Irani Cup match in September 2012, and also played in the Challenger Trophy. However, he was not a part of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy squad during the season due to a finger injury and poor form. The Vidarbha Cricket Association approached Harmeet in July and the spinner grabbed the opportunity, aiming to play his first full season of domestic cricket.END OF COMMENT –>
