Delhi women’s U-19 T20 team in semifinals; selection issues persist

The Delhi Under-19 women’s T20 team performed particularly well as they reached the semifinals of the national tournament, before crashing out. In the flagship Ranji Trophy, on the other hand, Delhi once again started poorly, losing to hosts Bengal. In the second match, they recovered to post a big total against Gujarat, the visiting team, and take the first-innings lead, but failed to press for a win.

Until October 26, the men’s and women’s teams of Delhi had played a total of 17 matches in national tournaments, winning eight and losing six. The other games produced no result.

Early glimpse

The U-19 women’s T20 team, led by Purva Siwach, offered an early glimpse of Delhi’s promise this season. Five wins in five group matches took them comfortably into the knockout stage, where they beat Uttarakhand by five runs in a thrilling quarterfinal match.

The semifinal, however, belonged to one player. Haryana opener Deeya Yadav produced an innings that Delhi had no answer to, smashing 119 off 65 balls to propel her team to 185 for two in 20 overs. She scored at a strike rate of 183, and cracked 15 boundaries and five sixes.

Earlier, Siwach won the toss and elected to bowl at Lady Amritbai Daga College Ground in Nagpur. Deeya made the decision look costly. Delhi’s bowlers struggled to contain her, and the total she helped Haryana post left their opponents with a formidable task.

Delhi’s batting never got going. Four wickets fell for 33 runs by the seventh over, leaving the chase in disarray. Samaira Raghav, who top-scored with 27, and Tanishqa Singh briefly stemmed the slide with a 40-run fifth-wicket partnership, but there was no sustained recovery. Pacers Samaira Sehgal and Pari Yadav took three wickets apiece as Delhi were bowled out for 129, handing Haryana a 56-run victory.

Deeya was the inevitable choice for Player of the Match. Her century had settled the contest long before the final wicket fell.

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Men stumble, then recover

While the women began well, Delhi started with a huge defeat in the Ranji Trophy. Last season, Delhi failed to win a game. This time around, they lost to host Bengal by nine wickets in Kalyani.

However, Delhi made a fine comeback against Gujarat in the second match, piling up a solid first-innings total of 648 for six declared, thanks to captain Ayush Badoni’s brilliant double-century and a fine 199 by T20 specialist opener Priyansh Arya, who didn’t even figure among the 16 announced at the start of the season but was included for this game.

Although Delhi took a crucial 169-run lead at the comparatively smaller Palam-II ground in New Delhi, they failed to shut Gujarat out for a win.

Apart from Badoni and Arya, Sumit Mathur, one of the most underrated Delhi cricketers, came good with a fine 92 against Gujarat and a 150 not out in the third match against host Jharkhand in Ranchi. Badoni hammered his second successive double-hundred in this game.

Mathur makes his mark

Mathur’s is a strange case. On his first-class debut in 2023-24, he turned in a match-winning performance against Orissa in the Ranji Trophy at the Jamia Millia Islamia ground in New Delhi. His left-arm spin brought him nine wickets, including a five-wicket haul in the second innings, as Delhi won by seven wickets.

He won the Man-of-the-Match award again in his second game, this time for his batting, as he scored his maiden first-class century. In his first six Ranji Trophy matches, he won three Man-of-the-Match awards.

Yet Mathur has played only 15 matches, including the recent fixture against Jharkhand, across four seasons. His under-utilisation as a bowler by captains has also raised questions. Despite his ability with left-arm spin, he is often brought into the attack only after the non-regular bowlers have been tried.

His childhood coach, Sharwan Kumar, believes Mathur has done enough to establish his credentials. He is pleased with the successive substantial scores, even as he remains concerned about the limited use of his ward’s bowling. “He is a long-term prospect. He has proved himself whenever he has got opportunities. He knows how to avail chances. His determination is very strong,” Sharwan Kumar told Patriot.

Mathur could have easily turned his 92 into a century against Gujarat. But, according to eyewitnesses, as he entered the 90s there were calls from the dressing room to accelerate. This seems to have affected his concentration, and he got out.

“As a rule of thumb, I have told him to shut out all the outside noise and stay put at his crease and build his innings in multi-day matches,” said Sharwan, who has also produced former India pacer Ishant Sharma.

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A spin-heavy selection

Delhi’s women opened their campaign in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy (Elite) with a 20-run win over Uttarakhand on October 26. However, the composition of the squad selected for the Inter-State T20 Tournament in Pune has raised questions.

The Reema Malhotra-headed selection committee picked a 16-member squad that included just one fast bowler, captain Soni Yadav, alongside five specialist leg-spinners and one left-arm spinner.

Another surprise was the omission of 22-year-old batting all-rounder Deeksha Sharma, who had been expected to be a strong contender for selection after her brilliant performances in the Delhi Premier League 2026. Deeksha, an opening batter and a pace bowler, was named Emerging Player of the Season for her all-round contributions. She was the sixth-highest run-scorer in the competition, making 148 runs at a strike rate of 133.33, and took five wickets in six matches for her franchise, the Central Delhi Queens.

Deeksha was subsequently included in the squad after Nidhi Mahto was picked for the Challenger Trophy.