Recently Delhi lost their first Ranji Final in 10 years to Vidarbha who won their first ever title, and the after effect can now be seen as Delhi District Cricket Association(DDCA) selectors have decided to sack Rishab Pant from the captaincy of their team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament”s zonal round. The decision came as a shock for everyone as Rishab just led Delhi to a Ranji Final.
Instead, it”s been decided that Pradeep Sangwan the Delhi left-arm seamer will lead the side of this tournament. The squad includes usual suspects with Delhi stalwart Gautam Gambhir part of the squad. Nitish Rana, Rishab Pant, Dhruv Shorey are part of the middle order with Unmukt Chand dropped because of the form issues. Otherwise, Navdeep Saini who took a crucial part in leading the Ranji side to the final is been rested. Pawan Negi comes back in the T20 scheme of things as well.
It was a move made to manage Rishab Pant as a player as he has been struggling for form of late, “We decided that Rishabh is struggling a bit with his form and we didn”t want to burden him with the captaincy. Pradeep Sangwan is fit and is the seniormost player in the set-up (Gautam Gambhir) playing from 2008. So we thought that Sangwan should be made the captain,” chairman of selectors Atul Wassan told PTI
But the exclusion of Rishab Pant from the role at the helm of affairs made big news around the cricketing circle.
Young wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant @RishabPant777 sacked from Delhi @delhi_cricket T20 captaincy. #DDCA
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 6, 2018
While also reiterating Gautam Gambhir”s importance to Delhi Cricket still as he gave away the captaincy before the start of the season, DDCA chairman of selectors Atul Wassan on Gautam Gambhir “We want Gautam to play the role of a mentor in this set-up. Also, this was the format where we could have tested new players like Tejas Barokha and Lalit Yadav, who have been star performers for the U-23 side. Also new ball bowler Gaurav Kumar.”
The squad has a good mix of talent and depth in all the departments of the game.
Delhi Squad for the Syed Mushtaq T20 zonal round:- P Sangwan (c), G Gambhir, R Pant, Himmat Singh, D Shorey, L Yadav, K Sharma, N Rana, N Saini, Pawan Negi, K Khejroliya, Khistij Sharma, Tejas Barokha, Subodh Bhati, Gaurav Kumar.
– by Kashish Chadha
https://twitter.com/DDCA_Cricket/status/949694258646167552