Gautam Gambhir steps down as Delhi’s Ranji team captain, Ishant Sharma to lead

Gautam Gambhir stepped down as the captain of Delhi’s Ranji Trophy team for the upcoming season. As per the Indian Express report, the reason behind the decision is that Gambhir wants to focus on his batting and give a youngster a shot at captaincy. The Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma is the new captain, the selection committee headed by Atul Wassan informed on Friday. Gambhir who is the senior most player in the Delhi squad had a difficult season as captain last year. The Delhi team had failed to qualify for the Ranji Trophy knock-outs. Other than this, the left-handed batsman was also handed a suspension of four games over a spat with coach KP Bhaskar. Although after the altercation between coach and captain it was difficult to work together, Wassan insisted the duo make peace and move on. As per IE report, Wassan said, “Whatever happened between them should not have happened. Having said that, it’s a thing of the past. The two will work together for the betterment of the Delhi team.” Even if Gambhir had a wise reason to step down from captaincy, Ishant Sharma’s lack of experience as a leader would be the major concern for the Delhi team. Wassan said, “I think captaincy is highly over-rated when it comes to cricket. We decided to appoint Ishant as the captain, as we felt he had the requisite experience to take this team forward. It’s true that he has no prior experience of leading a side, but I’m sure he will get ample help from the likes of Gambhir and coach KP Bhaskar.” Gambhir along with Unmukt Chand will continue to be Delhi’s opening duo. Moreover, the middle-order holds a fresh look of batsmen like Himmat Singh and Kunal Chandela. The middle order duo scored a stunning double hundred in the Vizzy Trophy. Himmat, dashing middle-order batsmen, has been a regular on the junior circuit for some time now. “We wanted to include him (Himmat) in the U-23 squad, but seeing the kind of form that he was in, we felt the time was right to blood him in the senior squad,” Wassan said, as per IE report. Delhi Squad: Ishant Sharma (C), Gautam Gambhir, Unmukt Chand, Nitish Rana, Dhruv Shorey, Milind Kumar, Himmat Singh, Kunal Chandela, Rishabh Pant (WK), Manan Sharma, Vikas Mishra, Pulkit Narang, Navdeep Saini, Vikas Tokas, Kulwant Khejroliya. Reserves: Simranjeet Singh, Shivam Sharma, Aditya Kaushik, Harsh Tyagi and Anuj Tyagi. Source: Indian Express