Veteran batsman Virat Kohli and swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant have found a place in the huge 84-member list of probables for Delhi’s Ranji Trophy team but both of them are unlikely to be available for any red-ball match for the team during the entire season.
However, veteran fast bowler Ishant Sharma has not found a place in this list. The country’s fastest bowler Mayank Yadav and another contender for a place in the Indian team, Harshit Rana, are among the potential players. Kohli last played a Ranji Trophy match for Delhi in 2012 against Uttar Pradesh in Ghaziabad, while Pant last played a red ball match for the team before the start of the Kovid-19 epidemic.
“It is a protocol. They are our registered players and if they want to play, it is our responsibility to put their names in the probables list,” a DDCA official told PTI on condition of anonymity. In the case of 35-year-old Ishant, who has played 100 Tests, it is understood that there is no point in him playing Ranji Trophy as he is no longer in the national team’s plans.
Ishant did not play in the first Delhi Premier League (DPL) either but it will be interesting to see if he makes himself available for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament. This T20 tournament will be held just before the IPL auction. The possibility of his retirement from competitive cricket cannot be ruled out either. MP Pappu Yadav’s son Sarthak Ranjan has also made it to the list of potential players.
However, all eyes will be on Mayank, who caught everyone’s attention by bowling at speeds of over 150 kmph in the IPL before being ruled out due to a strained abdominal muscle. Mayank now has a BCCI fast bowler’s contract and has been at the National Cricket Academy for the last five months.
He is now bowling at least 15 overs per day in simulations. He is expected to play for Delhi as the national selectors will be selecting the India A team for Australia and if he is fit, he will be a contender to make it to that team.
