Traditionally, Kanpur, Lucknow and Allahabad had provided most of the players to the UP team. Now smaller towns like Rae Bareli, Moradabad, Muradnagar, Meerut and Aligarh have seen the emergence of quality players. Suresh Raina comes form Muradnagar while Rudra Pratap Singh is from Rae Bareli, known more for being a VIP constituency represented by late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and now Congress boss Sonia Gandhi. Piyush Chawla is from Moradabad while Meerut has given two swing bowlers par excellence -- Praveen Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
