Unmukt Chand

The current vice-captain of Delhi Ranji trophy team, Unmukt Chand, has been elevated to the post of captain and now will be leading the Delhi Ranji trophy team for the first two Ranji games of the season. Delhi is scheduled to play their first game of the season against Assam in Baroda followed by an encounter against Maharashtra at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. Unmukt has been handed over the reins for the first two games in absence of regular captain Gautam Gambhir, who is away for national duty.

Last year, there were rumours that Unmukt might be leading the team in presence of Gambhir but the rumours were quashed as selectors did not dare to go against Gautam Gambhir as star players like Virender Sehwag and Mithun Manhas had already left the Delhi team before the start of the season. Gambhir moving away from Delhi could have been the biggest loss for Delhi team then.

The decision to elevate Unmukt was taken at a meeting of the Delhi Ranji Trophy Selection Committee which took place at DDCA. The newly elected selectors Nikhil Chopra, Atul Wasan, Robin Singh Junior (jr.) attended the meeting. The newly appointed coach of Delhi Ranji team, Bhaskar Pillai and former Indian cricketer and current Vice President of DDCA, Chetan Chauhan, also marked their presence in the meeting.

DDCA once again ignored the all-rounder Pawan Negi who has already represented India at the highest level. His exclusion was the highlight of the selection meeting.

All the selected player have to report to the coaches at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium tomorrow for the practice session. The team will leave for Baroda for their first game on October 3. Delhi team last won Ranji trophy in the year 2007 under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir defeating Uttar Pradesh in the final at Wankhede stadium. From then, Delhi team is still waiting for another title victory. The Vijay Hazare trophy victory of 2012/2013 season was the last big trophy won by Delhi in domestic cricket.

This year, the Ranji trophy matches will be played at neutral venues and it will be interesting to see how players react to this new concept.

The Delhi team for the first two games is as follows –

Unmukt Chand (C/RHB), Vaibhav Rawal (LHB), Milind Kumar (RHB), Nitish Rana (LHB), Manan Sharma (ALLL), Dhruv Shorey (RHB), Rishabh Pant (wkb), Mohit Sharma (RHB), Pulkit Narang (ROS), Varun Sood (ALL), Parwinder Awana (RAF), Navdeep Saini (RAF), Pradeep Sangwan (LAF), Pawan Suyal (LAF), Vikas Tokas (RAF).