Badoni to lead Delhi’s record 24-member squad for Ranji opener; Nitish Rana returns

An unprecedented 24-member squad has been named for Delhi’s opening Ranji Trophy match against Hyderabad, starting October 15, with Ayush Badoni set to lead the side and Yash Dhull appointed his deputy.

The Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) selection committee, which met on Thursday, recalled senior batter Nitish Rana — back in the Delhi fold after a brief stint with Uttar Pradesh — straightaway into the red-ball squad.

“The selectors have named 24 because they felt that a larger pool is always available for selection during each game. However, when we play home games in Delhi, we will prune it down to 15,” DDCA secretary Ashok Sharma said.

On Rana’s return, Sharma said: “He is an experienced player and the selectors wanted to check him out. In any case, he will play the white-ball leg. In fact, in the next game, we are expecting Rishabh Pant to play.”

However, a DDCA official said on condition of anonymity that Rana wasn’t fully fit for red-ball assignment.

“Nitish Rana isn’t even fully fit for red-ball engagements and yet he has been drafted in,” said the official.

On the reason for choosing a jumbo squad when the BCCI allows only 15 players inside the dressing room as per the anti-corruption code, a senior DDCA official said, “Apart from 15 chosen for the game, the other nine would spend four days in the team hotel.”

It is also learnt that none of the coaching staff or the selection committee has been handed contracts.

The release announcing the squad doesn’t have the name of the selection committee chairman as one former BCCI office bearer wants Services’ Yashpal Singh to head the panel, while the current DDCA office bearers are in favour of KP Bhaskar.

The meeting was attended by selectors Yashpal Singh, K Bhaskar Pillai, and Manu Nayar, along with chief coach Sarandeep Singh, CAC member Surinder Khanna, and DDCA officials Ashok Sharma (Secretary) and Amit Grover (Joint Secretary).

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“All selected players have been instructed to report to chief coach Sarandeep for practice on October 10 at the St Stephen’s Ground,” DDCA said in a release.

Delhi squad: Ayush Badoni (captain), Yash Dhull (vice-captain), Arpit Rana, Sanat Sangwan, Anuj Rawat (wk), Sumit Mathur, Shivam Sharma, Rounak Waghela, Navdeep Saini, Simarjeet Singh, Money Grewal, Siddhant Sharma, Dhruv Kaushik, Pranav Rajvanshi (wk), Nitish Rana, Himmat Singh, Ayush Doseja, Rahul Dagar, Hrithik Shokeen, Priyansh Arya, Tejasvi (wk), Vaibhav Kandpal, Rohan Rana, Aryan Rana (subject to fitness).