Spinner Ray earns maiden call-up to Odisha's Ranji squad

Odisha left-arm spinner Papu Ray on Sunday earned a maiden Ranji Trophy call-up for the first two matches following his impressive performance in the just-concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Odisha will open their Ranji campaign in the Elite C League against Haryana from November 1-4 and then face Uttar Pradesh (November 12-15) at the KIIT Cricket Stadium here.

Ray took 14 wickets in eight games at a strike rate of 18.42 in the league stage of the Vijay Hazare Trophy and came under the spotlight of national selectors, who picked him for the Ajinkya Rahane-led India C squad in the upcoming Deodhar Trophy.

Biplab Samantray will lead the 15-member Odisha squad.

Squad: Biplab Samantray (Captain), Anurag Sarangi, Ranjit Singh, Sandeep Pattnaik, Govinda Poddar, Subhranshu Sekhar Senapati, Shantanu Lenka (WK), Papu Ray, Rajesh Mohanty, Debabrata Pradhan, Basanta Mohanty, Suryakant Pradhan, Abhishek Rout and Subham Nayak.