Aaron to lead Jharkhand in Dhoni's absence

New Delhi: Out-of-favour India pacer Varun Aaron will lead Jharkhand in the East Zone Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 League, in the absence of MS Dhoni.

Dhoni, who featured in the last edition of the tournament, has surprisingly decided to give it a miss this year.

The 28-year-old Aaron, who has also turned out for India in a career dogged by injuries, had an indifferent Ranji season and will look make amends in India’s premiere T20 tournament, which started on Sunday.

It is an ideal opportunity for Aaron to impress the IPL scouts, who will keep a keen eye on the tournament as it will be immediately followed by the IPL auctions in January 27-28 in Mumbai.

He has a dependable batting line-up in Saurabh Tiwary, Ishank Jaggi, Virat Singh and Ishan Kishan to provide the platform for its bowlers on the flat pitches. But will have to shoulder much of the responsibility in the bowling department as experienced left-arm spinner is also not in the squad.

Jharkhand squad: Varun Aaron (captain), Saurabh Tiwary, Ishan Kishan(wicket-keeper), Ishank Jaggi, Sonu Kumar Singh, Ashish Kumar, Babul Kumar, Nazim Siddiqui, Virat Singh, Kaushal Singh, Sumit Kumar (wicket-keeper), Samar Quadri, Sunny Gupta, Ajay Yadav, Jaskaran Singh