Stuart Binny to turn out for Nagaland this domestic season

Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Sep. 1: Out-of-favour India all-rounder Stuart Binny will represent Nagaland cricket team in the upcoming BCCI domestic season.

According to the Sportstar magazine, the 35-year-old from Karnataka has obtained a no-objection certificate from his state association to ply his trade for the Nagaland team.

Several discussions were held before Nagaland could rope in Binny, it reported.

“We have finalised three players for the senior team: Stuart Binny; Yogesh Takawale and Shrikant Mundhe from Maharashtra. We had requested him (Binny) to play for us and we got him,” P Bendang Jamir, selector and vice-president of Nagaland Cricket Association (NCA), told the magazine on August 31.

Binny is expected to join Nagaland’s pre-season camp at Sovima Cricket Ground in Dimapur by September 10.

It also quoted NCA joint secretary A Rahman as saying: “We wanted a big name to come down and mentor the boys so that they can learn from someone. Binny was excited right from the word go.

“When we had released the outstation players from last season, we wanted to have somebody with experience. Along with that, we have a good balance in wicketkeeper-batsman Takawale and medium-pacer Mundhe. We have also groomed our local players Imliwati Lemtur, Tahmeed Rahman, Sedezhalie Rupreo.”

In Rongsen Jonathan, who was born in Mokokchung, Nagaland has a local player leading the team even as he is currently based in Bengaluru. The 32-year-old batsman led the Bengaluru Blasters in the 2019 edition of Karnataka Premier League.

Competing in the Plate group, Nagaland beat Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh in last year’s Ranji. It emerged the best side from Northeast in Vijay Hazare Trophy (one-dayers) beating all its opponents — Meghalaya, Sikkim, Arunachal, Manipur and Mizoram — but lost all its fixtures in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament that involved Elite group teams as opponents.

The BCCI 2019-20 season started on August 17 with Duleep Trophy. Nagaland will begin its campaign with Vijay Hazare Trophy from September 24.

The BCCI allows Plate group teams to employ three quest players or outstation players. By far, Stuart Binny is the biggest name yet to be roped in by the NCA. He has played for India in six Test matches, 14 ODIs, and three T20Is.

Stuart is the son of Roger Binny, who was the leading wicket-taker in the 1983 World Cup and thus, one of the architects of India’s famous maiden world cup triumph.