Ishant Sharma excluded from Delhi Ranji team

Ishant Sharma excluded from Delhi Ranji team: Indian pacer Ishant Sharma has been left out of Delhi’s Ranji Trophy squad for the upcoming season. The chairman of selectors for Delhi, Vinay Lamba was quoted by ESPNcricinfo saying, “He didn’t answer our call nor responded to my text.”

Ishant Sharma was suspended for a Test match after he breached ICC’s code of conduct during the third Test in Sri Lanka and is not picked in the ODI squad that will play against South Africa is available to play domestic cricket until the 2^nd Test starts that is not before the first week of November.

The Delhi team that is already clouded with controversies grabbed more of it after Ishant was left out. As if the things were not enough, another significant domestic player, Rajat Bhatia was also left out of the selected squad. Before this, three different squads have been released by 3 different groups to report to the preparatory camp.

No clarity has been made on who will the coach of the squad that will be captained by Gautam Gambhir. Although, Ajay Jadeja is the man nominated and approved by the Government nominees, is looking after the team currently. The administrators will take a sigh of relief after the entire focus has been shifted to the scandalous team selection for now.

On being asked if Ishant is unwilling to be a part of the Delhi team, Lamba said, “He is our senior bowler, how can we say that about him? But we tried to get in touch with him yesterday, but he didn’t respond. I left a text, but didn’t get a reply.”

While Ishant is grabbing all the attention the exclusion of Bhatia will come as a shock to those aware of his form and capabilities. The all-rounder will turn 36 this Ranji season but is still fit enough to play, he has scored 305 runs at an average of 34 and grabbed 12 wickets in the last Ranji season.

There were doubts on the captaincy crown as well, the selectors fumbled with the choice between Gautam Gambhir and Unmukt Chand who has been the India A skipper for limited overs matches of later. However, the squad names Gambhir as the captain and Unmukt will be his deputy. The team has 7 batsmen, 2 spinners, 5 fast bowlers and a wicket keeper.

Delhi squad:

Gautam Gambhir (captain), Unmukt Chand (vice-captain), Vaibhav Rawal, Milind Kumar, Kshitij Rana, Yogesh Nagar, Dhruv Shaurya, Manan Sharma, Pulkit Narang, Mohit Ahlawat (wk), Parvinder Awana, Sumit Narwal, Pradeep Sangwan, Pawan Suyal, Sarang Rawat.