OCA selects 136 players for OPL-2013

Odisha Cricket Association on Monday set the ball in motion for the revival of Odisha Premier League (OPL), selecting a total of 136 players for the cash-rich domestic T-20 tournament, scheduled to be held simultaneously at Barabati Stadium (Cuttack) and VSS Stadium (Sambalpur) under lights from April 1.
OPL-2013 will be conducted in a new format, involving eight teams, namely East, West, North, South, Blue, Red, Green and Yellow. The eight teams will play their matches in two groups on double-leg basis.
The 136 players have been divided into four grades. Each team will be formed with 17 players _ four each from Grade A, B, C and five from Grade D. Similarly, the playing XI will feature three each from Grade A, B, D and two from Grade C.
Among the 136 players, 32 each have been placed in Grade A, B and C, while the rest 40 have been included in Grade D. Payment to the players will be made as per their grades. According to the gradation, Grade A players will get Rs 50,000 each, Grade B Rs 40,000, Grade C Rs 30,000 and Grade D Rs 20,000.
The first edition of the OPL, featuring 10 teams, 171 players and 44 matches was conducted at five venues from May 22 to June 12, 2010. Western Samurai Rourkela, led by Natraj Behera, won the inaugural edition, defeating Katak Barabati Tigers in the final by four runs at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack.
The champion team bagged the top prize of Rs 4 lakhs, while the runners-up received Rs 2 lakhs. Tigers` captain Biplab Samantaray justified his value as the costliest player of the tournament by grabbing the man of the tournament award which fetched him a Ford Figo car and a cash prize of Rs 25, 000.
The OPL-II was cancelled as the franchisees, some of whom were caught in the IT net, did not renew their contract within the stipulated date. This time OCA has decided to do the funding itself, instead of involving any franchise. However, the OCA has invited government and private companies/firms to sponsor the teams for the successful conduct of the OPL.

LIST OF SELECTED PLAYERS:

GRADE-A: Lagnajit Samal, Alok Mangaraj, Basant Mohanty, Alok Sahoo, Bibhudutta Panda, Arbind Singh, Subhrajit Sahoo, Abhilash Mallick, Suryakanta Pradhan, Ankit Yadav, Sheshdeep Patra, Priyatosh Paramanik, Bikash Swarup Pati, Santosh Jena, Pritamjit Das, Ansuman Gope, Jayant Behera, Ranjit Singh, Sandeep Mulia, Sumitosh Praharaj, Girija Rout, Dhiraj Singh, Natraj Behera, Govind Poddar, Biplab Samantaray, Niranjan Behera (Sr), Rakesh Mohanty, Deepak Behera, Haladhar Das, Paresh Patel, Subit Biswal, Anil Buda.

GRADE-B: Samir Mohanty, Sujit Lenka, Subhransu Senapati, Ashok Barik, Santosh Maharana, Arya Debasis Bhatta, Santosh Sethi, Suman Mishra, Syed Moinuddin, Payas Ranjan Sinha, Anurag Sarangi, Manoj Nayak, Narendra Dash, Rashmi Ranjan Rout, Rajesh Sethi, Kameswar Barik, Tukuna Sahu, Saiba Singh, Alok Pradhan, Alok Das, Pratik Das, Raj Kishan Patel, Debapriya Pattnaik, Asmit Rout, Ajaya Rout, Santosh Rout, Anand Sahoo, Soumendra Das, Sanjiv Sahoo, Sanjib Barik, Subhrajyoti Mishra, Niranjan Behera (Jr).

GRADE-C: Suvendu Samal, Aditya Basa, Manas Muduli, Soubhatya Mohanty, Sanoj Mahananda, Tapendra Singh, Asutosh Das, Sudipta Swain, Harisankar Pati, Akash Ranjan Sahoo, Sidhartha Sinha, Malaya Jena, Agniv Sarkar, Pabitra Pradhan, Rakesh Gochhayat, Sanjay Das, P Roshan Kumar Rao, Barun Panigrahi, Tatakanta Samal, Bhabatosh Paramanik, Mohammad Hasim, Sidhant Roy, Prasant Bhoi, G Iswar Rao, Sandeep Das, Sabyasachi Acharya, Bhabani Mohanty, Pallabendu Mishra, Madhusudan Agrawal, Mrunmaya Tripathy, Syed Zaki, Rishikesh Das.

GRADE-D: Babuli Sethi, Sanjib Kumar Patra, Satyajit Das, Abhinav Mishra, Manish Rout, Jalil Khan, Gourav Mohapatra, Sanujit Samal, Prakash Panda, Crystal Chowdhury, T Sunil Kumar, Subhransu Samal, Rakesh Pattnaik, Mohammad Azhar, Subham Nayak (Off-spinner), Subham Nayak (Leg-spinner), Pratik Tripathy, Sarthak Siva Mohapatra, Milan Sahoo, Amrit Khatua, Kushal Patel, Swaraj Chandan, Kailash Das, Rupak Pradhan, Rohit Behera, Jamela Bhanjan Mohapatra, Piyush Pattnaik, Anup Pal, Biswanath Seth, Mozakir Ali Khan, Suvendra Das, Jyoti Ranjan Rout, Dibya Sakti Chakrabarty, Sagar Rout, Subhrajit Das, Srikanta Pradhan, Prabir Nayak, Saroj Parida, Asish Patra, Nautam Bhanja.

RESERVE: Benu Charan Patra, S A Kahn, Asit Das, Rajkiran Panda, Sreejay Mohanty, Subrat Samal, Pradipta Das, Balaram Panigrahi.