India pacer Ishant Sharma will Delhi in the first two matches of Ranji Trophy 2017/18. The captaincy to him has come as a surprise as the team consists of Gautam Gambhir – regular captain and Unmukt Chand – who led Delhi in two Ranji games past season – but still, Ishant was given the job.
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As per TOI, Gambhir himself informed the board that he would not lead the team and will concentrate on batting aspect.
Rishab Pant could have been one of the options for the job, as he led Delhi in past season during Vijay Hazare Trophy. But his India A commitments were the reason as there is a strong case of him being selected in India A side for five matches one-day series against New Zealand A. As of now, he is a part of the squad for two unofficial Test matches.
Delhi side consists of likes of Gautam Gambhir and Unmukt Chand. Both will continue to open the innings for the team. Nitish Rana, Manan Sharma, Milind Kumar have also been given a place in the side.
There are some new faces in the form of Kulwant Khejroliya and Himmat Singh. The former is a left-handed pacer who made his List A debut for Delhi last season and was straightaway drafted into the squad for Deodhar Trophy due to his impressive performance. He was also a part of Mumbai Indians in IPL 2017 but did not play a game. Kulwant was also included in Board Presidents XI squad and is making sounds due to being a left-handed pacer. Much has been talked about him, and he has a chance to grab limelight straightaway during the season.
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Talking of Himmat Singh, he has played three List A games till now. He was selected in the Delhi Ranji side in 2014 but did not make his first-class debut then.
Delhi will face Assam in the first game of the season at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi from October 6 to 9.
Squad: Ishant Sharma (C), Gautam Gambhir, Unmukt Chand, Nitish Rana, Dhruv Shorey, Milind Kumar, Himmat Singh, Kunal Chandela, Rishabh Pant (WK), Manan Sharma, Vikas Mishra, Pulkit Narang, Navdeep Saini, Vikas Tokas, Kulwant Khejroliya. Standbyes: Simranjeet Singh, Shivam Sharma, Aditya Kaushik, Harsh Tyagi and Anuj Tyagi
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