Kanpur. The 16-member Uttar Pradesh team led by wicketkeeper batsman Aryan Juyal for the Ranji Trophy season was announced on Wednesday. Apart from fast bowler Yash Dayal, leg spinner Zeeshan Ansari has returned to the team, while fast bowler Abhinandan Singh has also been included. He is yet to make his debut in first-class cricket. At the same time, fast bowler Abhinandan Singh has also got a place in the team, who is yet to make his debut in first-class cricket.
Keeping an eye on Yash Dayal's return
Yash Dayal's return is considered important for the UP team. Left-arm fast bowler Yash Dayal was part of Royal Challengers Bangalore's title-winning team in the IPL 2025 final. After this, he stayed away from cricket after allegations related to sexual harassment. RCB did not include him in the team for IPL 2026 and 'personal reasons' were cited for this.
Zeeshan returned to the red-ball team after six years
Leg spinner Zeeshan Ansari has also returned to the Uttar Pradesh red-ball team after six years. Ansari recently played a four-day match for India A against Sri Lanka A in Galle in July. This was only his sixth first-class match.
Campaign will start against Bihar
The first match of UP team will be played against Bihar at Rajgiri ground from 11 to 14 October. After this, the second match will be against Goa from 18 to 21 October at Green Park Stadium. The third match will be played against Pondicherry from 26 to 29 October in Pondicherry and the final match of the first leg will be played against Baroda from 2 to 5 November at Green Park Stadium.
After this, in the second phase, Uttar Pradesh's fifth match will be against Madhya Pradesh in Indore from 17 to 21 January, the sixth against Jammu and Kashmir at Green Park Stadium from 24 to 27 January and the last match will be against Vidarbha in Nagpur from 1 to 4 February.
These players will take command of UP
Apart from captain Aryan Juyal, the 16-member team of Uttar Pradesh includes Rinku Singh, Abhishek Goswami, Aaradhya Yadav, Karan Sharma, Madhav Kaushik, Aditya Sharma, Siddharth Yadav, Prashant Veer, Kartik Yadav, Zeeshan Ansari, Vansh Chaudhary, Yash Dayal, Priyam Garg, Abhinandan Singh and Kartik Tyagi.
The return of Yash Dayal and Zeeshan Ansari along with famous batsmen like Rinku Singh in this team with a mix of experience and youthful enthusiasm makes it special. Now the focus will be on how much impact the UP team can leave in this long journey of Ranji under the captaincy of Aryan Juyal.