Teams back to 16 members but questions remain

New Delhi: On December 15, when Capital's residents were drooling over Lionel Messi, the high and mighty of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) were getting pulled up by Jay Shah, the Chairman of International Cricket Council (ICC) and former secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

On the face of it, Shah now has no power over any state body since he is head of ICC and has no official position in the Indian cricket board but the fact that he was here to sell the ICC T20 World Cup -- by presenting a World Cup ticket and the Indian cricket team jersey to Messi -- showed that he still commands a say in Indian cricket.

So, as some of the officials put it, his admonition of the DDCA office-bearers for sending jumbo squads for BCCI tournaments came as no surprise and to some extent put a lid on the practice. 

The team that was picked for the Vijay Hazare One-dayers post that comprised 15 members although six internationals were mentioned outside of it, bringing the total number to 21.

(Lead picture shows Pranav Rajvanshi, who is playing this match)

But now as the DDCA picked teams for the remaining two matches of the Ranji Trophy campaign gone awry and Under-23 competition, they have returned to restricting the number of players to just 16. However, not everyone is happy with the way the team has been selected. The inclusion of 24-25 players in a squad had kept everybody happy. 

The restriction on the number of players to be picked for the squad has left many people upset. Opener Arpit Rana has been axed. He had 377 runs at an average of 47.17.

Rana's average and aggregate suggests that he was unlucky to be dropped but the fact that he scored 170 (not out vs Puducherry in second innings) of those in one of the nine innings he played proves that his performance wasn't really up to mark. More was expected of him.

Priyansh Arya opened the innings with Sanat Sangwan when Delhi took on Chhattisgarh at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru from Thursday (January 22). Questions have been raised over the inclusion of pace bowlers Siddhant Sharma and Rohan Rana. Left-arm Rahul Chaudhary's inclusion without going through the under-23 grind also raised eyebrows. However, the fact that Delhi has struggled to produce bowlers -- both in pace and spin departments -- has allowed justification to include every and any bowler.

Siddhant was tested earlier in the season and proved below par. If a yardstick was applied to Arpit Rana, the same should have been applied to Siddhant Sharma. Arpit has been sent back to lead the Delhi under-23 side.

Siddhant, who was sent back has emerged again and with weak team Chhattisgarh as the opposition, he may get a few wickets justifying his inclusion.

Left-arm spin bowling all-rounder Sumit Mathur's exclusion as he hadn't proved his credentials as spinner was also questioned since he had done well with the bat. But injury to Hrithik Shokeen has paved the way for him to make a comeback.

The big surprise has been the exclusion of left-arm spinner Manan Bhardwaj from both Delhi's Ranji Trophy and Under-23 sides. Bhardwaj has picked nine wickets in three Under-23 matches this season. He was under-bowled in the Ranji Trophy matches he played this season. But he is now out of fold.   

DDCA selectors' decision to persist with struggling Anuj Rawat has also not gone down well. Although Pranav Rajvanshi is playing in the ongoing match against Chhattisgarh. 

At the time of going to print, Delhi were struggling at 63/5 in the first session against Chhattisgarh.

Ranji Trophy squad: Ayush Badoni (captain), Sanat Sangwan, Priyansh Arya, Ayush Doseja, Pranav Rajvanshi (wicketkeeper), Anuj Rawat (wicketkeeper), Siddhant Sharma, Divij Mehra, Sumit Mathur, Aryan Rana, Vaibhav Kandpal, Dhruv Kaushik, Rahul Chaudhary, Money Grewal, Rohan Rana, Rahul Dagar.

Delhi U-23 squad: Arpit Rana (captain), Yash Bhatia, Yugal Saini (vice-captain), Ankit Rajesh Kumar, Dev Lakra, Nikhil Yadav, Rounak Waghela, Karan Garg, Krish Yadav (wicketkeeper), Dhananjai Singh, Shaurya Malik, Rajneesh Dadar, Sujal Singh, Hardik Sharma, Anant Singh Sareen, Ravneet Tanwar.

Tags : PRiyansh Arya, Ranji Trophy, cricket, Jay Shah, BCCI