Is 'Team India' becoming 'Team UP'?

Lucknow, Feb 24 (UNI) With the selection of Piyush Chawla and Suresh Raina in the Test side, four players from Uttar Pradesh have made it to the Indian team for the first tie against England beginning March 1 in Nagpur.

While Mohd Kaif and new bowling hand RP Singh are already in the side, the entry of Raina and Chawla completed the UP quartet in the Test team. The feat till a few years ago was a pipe dream for cricket lovers of the state.

With these selections, UP has broken the dominance of Mumbai, Delhi and Karnataka in Indian cricket team.

However, it is no flash in the pan, and the enormous young talent surfaced during the last few years had been suggesting of the trend, cricket pundits in the state aver.

Kiran More, chairman, BCCI selection committee, who was here during the Ranji Trophy final last month was also amazed at the surfeit of cricketing talent in UP.

He, in fact, was quite vocal about this and had even promised a 'surprise' in the next selection, which he unveiled only yesterday after grafting 17-year-old leggie Piyush into the national squad.

Significantly, Ravi Kant Shukla and Piyush, the captain and vice captain resepctively of under-19 India team are from UP, another pointer towards the emergence of young talent in the state.

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