The veteran Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir and bowling spearhead Ishant Sharma have been included in the 16-member Delhi Ranji squad for the next game against Rajasthan at Wayand. This clearly means that Gautam Gambhir will soon be released from the Indian squad to participate in the seventh round of the premier tournament whereas there are still doubts whether Ishant will appear for Delhi or not.

“The selectors have spoken to Gautam and he has expressed his interest in playing the next round encounter as he will be getting valuable match time. That’s the reason we have named Gautam in the squad. In case, we don’t get him, we have kept Himmat Singh as cover,” a member of the selection panel told PTI.

Shikhar Dhawan will also return for Delhi after missing out a major portion of New Zealand series due to an injury, he will be opening the innings along with Gautam Gambhir, who is probably his rival for that Indian opening spot. Unmukt Chand, the regular opener of Delhi may be pushed down to facilitate both the senior pros to open the batting. Interestingly, the squad also includes Sarthak Ranjan as the fourth opener. Sarthak played a blistering knock of 194 in the first game of C.K. Nayudu Trophy against Railways. But he might have to wait for his chance due to the availability of an abundance of openers in the team. Himmat Singh, who made it to Delhi Ranji squad in the year 2014 has once again made a comeback and has been named as standby for this game.

Currently, Delhi sits at the fourth position in Group B. They need to win both of their remaining games in order to make it to the next stage.