New Delhi: Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir on Friday has refused to lead Delhi for the upcoming domestic season.
The selection panel consisting of Atul Wassan, Robin Singh and Bari Gidwani had intially decided to hand over the reins of the team to the left-hander after they had replaced him with the young Rishabh Pant in the last leg of the last domestic season. But after Gambhir declined the offer, they decided to appoint the lanky Ishant Sharma as the captain of the team.
A source, as quoted by The Times of India said, “Gautam wrote a mail to DDCA administrator Justice Vikramjit Sen and cricket affairs committee head Madan Lal on Friday morning saying he won’t be captaining the side this season. He said he is not very keen on taking the mantle and wants to focus on his game instead.”
During the last season of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Gambhir was involved in an altercation with coach Bhaskar Pillai where the World Cup winning cricketer alleged that the latter was “playing” with the careers of the youngsters.
Gambhir was subsequently handed a four-match ban from first class cricket following this conflict. Bhaskar, who had a forgettable campaign with the Delhi team in all the formats last year, has been retained as the coach of the team but Gambhir isn’t quite keen in taking up the captain’s role once again.
This decision by the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper has indeed given a headache to the Delhi selectors, especially after the fact that the young Rishabh Pant too isn’t quite interested in taking up the captaincy given the fact that he has been trying to break into the Indian team and cement for himself a permanent spot. Thus, Ishant Sharma has been named the skipper of the team till the time he is available to compete for Delhi.
To name Ishant as the skipper is a decision that is all the more justified as India are scheduled to play just three Test matches in the home season and with Ishant not being a part of India’s limited overs’setup, the veteran of 77 Test matches might just get a good amount of time to lead his domestic side. But it’s still not confirmed as to whether he is interested in the role or not.
However, the selectors have kept Milind Kumar on standby if a situation arises where no one is interested in the job. They are however unwilling to give U-19 World Cup winning captain Unmukt Chand a chance to lead the side despite him beginning the season last year as the skipper in Gambhir’s absense.