ON EXPECTED lines senior pro Ganesh Satish was named Vidarbha skipper after regular captain Faiz Fazal announced retirement from the shortest format just a couple of days ago.

Ganesh will be leading what looks to be a very well-balanced outfit for the season opening Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Tournament that gets under way at Indore on January 10.

VCA selectors announced the 18-member team on Friday one day after the original schedule as VCA Secretary Parimal Vaidya was not available to ratify the squad on Thursday. The team declared seems to be for the league phase only as the VCA has mentioned that the team is for tournament “to be played from 10.01.2021 to 19.01.2021”.

Vidarbha team is in Elite Group ‘D’ and will play it’s first match against Rajasthan on January 10, 2021 at Emerald Heights Cricket Ground.

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, all the safety measures and systems are being implemented to ensure that the squad will get a safe environment.

Other teams in Elite Group ‘D’ are: Services, Saurashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Goa. The team will depart on January 2, 2021.

Apart from Ganesh and to some extent young opener Atharva Taide and Mohit Kale, most of the batsmen picked by the selectors are good strokeplayers. Siddhesh Wath, who was in ominous form last season, leads the chart with big-hitter Apoorv Wankhade, Rishabh Rathod, wicketkeeper-opener Jitesh Sharma, another stumper-batsman Akshay Wadkar and upcoming southpaw Yash Rathod

Spinner all-rounders Akshay Karnewar, Akshay Wakhare, Mohit Raut and Raj Chaudhari will compete with one or two slots depending on the turf they play on.

Senior seamer Lalit Yadav leads a young crop of fast bowlers including Darshan Nalkande, Yash Thakur, Aditya Thakre and Nachiket Bhute.

Notable omissions from the regular four-day side are opener R Sanjay and all-rounder Aditya Sarvate.

All the players who were part of the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League were included in the side. They include Nalkande (player Kings XI Punjab) while the trio of Thakur, Thakre and Bhute were picked by different franchises as net bowlers.

Vidarbha will have to play once against all the teams of the Elite Group D in the round robin league format.

The top eight teams after the completion of league stage will qualify for the knock-outs, which will be held at Ahmedabad from January 26 to 31, 2021.

The four quarter-finals (January 26 and 27), two semi-finals (January 29) and grand final (January 31) will take place at the huge Motera Stadium, Ahmedabad.

All the 38 participating teams have been divided into six groups. While Indore will play host Elite Group D ties, Bengaluru (Elite A), Kolkata (Elite B), Vadodara (Elite C), Mumbai (Elite E), and Chennai (Plate) will host their respective group outings.

Indore leg of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will be played at the Holkar Stadium and the Emerald Heights International School grounds.