ACA recruits Ajay Ratra as coach

TheAssam Cricket Association (ACA) on Monday announced the recruitment of former Indiancricketer Ajay Ratra as the coach for the Assam senior team in the season ahead.Besides Ratra, the ACA hasalso appointed former Assam Ranji cricketer Arlen Konwar as bowling coach andformer Assam and Railways cricketer Subhadeep Ghosh as the fielding coach.

It may be mentioned here that the ACA was looking for a senior as well as an experienced cricketer to guide the Assam team. Several former international players including Dinesh Mongia, Sairaj Bahutule, Shiv Sunder Das and Ajay Ratra apart from current coach Syed Zakaria Zuffri and former Assam player Subhrajit Saikia applied for the posts of head coach.

Ratrawas the coach of Assam's Under-19 team during 2017 season.

Heplayed 18 international matches for India (6 Tests and 12 ODIs). He was the youngestwicketkeeper to make a century (115 not out in 2002 against the West Indies) inTests.

In amajor decision taken last year, the ACA had decided to not field any outstationplayer in the Assam team which they believed would give more opportunities tothe locals.