Moreover, he became the second highest run scorer for Knight Riders after Rinku Singh (474 runs) in this IPL.

Prospective batsman Abhishek Sharma, wicketkeeper-batsman Prabhsimran Singh and Harshit Rana have also been added to the 15-man squad. However, the trio are also part of India’s squad for the Emerging Team Asia Cup to be held in Sri Lanka from July 13 to 23.

Should India reach the final of this tournament, they will join the North Zone team at a later date.

If India reach the final, there may be a delay in their joining the team, in which case the substitute players will play in the first match, North Zone selection committee chairman Anirudh Chaudhary said.

North Zone squad line-up: Nitish Rana (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Prabhimran Singh, S.G. Rohilla, S. Khajuria, Mandeep Singh, Himanshu Rana, Vivrant Sharma, Nishant Sindhu, Rishi Dhawan, Yudhvir Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande.

Departed players: Mayank Dagar, Mayank Yadav, Arslan Khan, Shubham Arora, Yuvraj Singh, Manan Vohra, Aqib Nabi, Shivank Vashisht.