Ranji Trophy: Yash Dhull named Delhi captain, Ishant in squad for first two games

In eight games that he has played so far, Yash Dhull has scored 820 runs at an average of 72 plus and has four hundreds to his name.

FILE PHOTO: Yash Dhull of Delhi celebrates after scoring a century against Tamil Nadu during the Ranji Trophy.

Less than a year after he captained the India U-19 team to the World Cup title, 20-year-old Yash Dhull has been named captain of the high-profile Delhi Ranji Trophy team, which includes veteran Ishant Sharma and IPL (Indian Premier League) star Nitish Rana in its ranks.

Dhull, in all likelihood, is one of the youngest to have ever captained Delhi and that too in his ninth First-Class game after a promising entry in the Ranji Trophy last year.

In eight games that he has played so far, Dhull has scored 820 runs at an average of 72 plus and has four hundreds.

It is understood that the DDCA (Delhi and District Cricket Association) brass wanted to carry out the tough transition from this season and Dhull, by virtue of being one of the most consistent performers and someone blessed with leadership acumen, has been handed over the reins.

“Somewhere we had to draw the line. We need to have a transition being carried out. Pradeep Sangwan, last year’s captain, had to be dropped as he hasn’t been measuring up,” a source close to the DDCA selection committee told PTI on condition of anonymity.

The squad has been selected for first two games (vs Maharashtra in Pune from December 13-17 and vs Assam, December 17-20).

Ishant, the veteran, who would like to have one final shot at IPL glory, if not a national call-up, has been selected for the first two games.

“Ishant has also been given a couple of games. Let’s hope he shoulders more responsibility,” the source said.

Dhull is possibly the youngest in terms of age at 20 years and 29 days but certainly has way more red-ball experience than the likes of Hrithik Shokeen, Ayush Badoni, all of whom had made their IPL debuts last year.

It is understood that T20 specialist Rana hasn’t been considered for red-ball captaincy.

DELHI SQUAD

Yash Dhull (c), Himmat Singh (vc), Dhruv Shorey, Anuj Rawat (wk), Vaibhav Rawal, Lalit Yadav, Nitish Rana, Ayush Badoni, Hrithik Shokeen, Shivank Vashisth, Vikas Mishra, Jonty Sidhu, Ishant Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Harshit Rana, Simarjeet Singh Lakshay Thareja (wk), Pranshu Vijayran.