The Indian pacer Ishant Sharma has been ruled out of the ongoing Duleep Trophy. Though the news regarding him being in England came last week; the confirmation of him missing the tournament has come out only a day before the start of the game.
Pankaj Rao, the Chattisgarh pacer has replaced Ishant in the side. The 27-year-old pacer made his first-class debut for the state last season when BCCI gave Chattisgarh affiliation. He had played for Madhya Pradesh in the past and made his list A debut way back in 2009 against Railways.
Coming to Ishant, it is to be noted that he had himself cleared the rumors of him signing a county deal with but he is still in England, looking for opportunities to play county cricket. Though he had an offer during Indian Premier League as well; a call up from Kings XI Punjab forced him to stay back in India and take part in the tenth edition of the league. At present, Cheteshwar Pujara and R Ashwin are the two Indian cricketers who are playing county cricket in England.
Meanwhile, apart from Ishant, Abhinav Mukund and Krishnappa Gotham are the two other players who have ruled out of Duleep Trophy. While Mukund is still down with dengue fever, the exclusion of latter is a surprising one because he did not take the field on the final day of the first game but played the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) game. He has already been replaced by Mumbai’s Vijay Gohil while Akhil Herwadkar has been called in for Mukund.