New Delhi: In what can be called a bizarre move, young wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant has been removed as captain of the Delhi domestic team, only a week after he led the side to their first Ranji Trophy final appearance in 10 years.
What’s even more surprising is that the captaincy has now been handed to left-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan, who was last seen in action for IPL franchise Gujarat Lions last year in the month of May. Pant, recently had been retained by the Delhi Daredevils franchise for the upcoming edition of the IPL.
The decision to hand Sangwan the captaincy is even more shocking because the bowler, in the past had tested positive for banned substance and he didn’t even compete in the recently concluded Ranji Trophy where Delhi ended as runners-up to Vidarbha. Sangwan has played a total of 77 T20Is where he has picked up 71 wickets at an unimpressive economy rate of 7.68.
Not only this but senior Delhi cricketers like Unmukt Chand, Milind Kumar and Manan Sharma were handed the axe from the squad for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, beginning on January 7. Milind was the vice-captain of the Delhi Ranji team at the start of the season when Pant was playing for India A. Unmukt is also a former Delhi skipper.
“We decided that Rishabh is struggling a bit with his form and we didn’t want to burden him with captaincy. Pradeep Sangwan is fit and is the seniormost player in the set-up (save Gautam Gambhir) playing from 2008. So we thought that Sangwan should be made the captain,” said chairman of selectors Atul Wassan to PTI on Saturday.
When asked why Gambhir, a two-time IPL winning skipper with the Kolkata Knight Riders’ wasn’t handed the responsibility, Wassan said that he wanted the veteran to act as a mentor to this side.
“We want Gautam to play the role of a mentor in this set-up. Also this was the format where we could have tested new players like Tejas Barokha and Lalit Yadav, who have been star performers for U-23 side. Also new ball bowler Gaurav Kumar,” added Wassan.
Sarthak Ranjan, the son of Bihar politician Pappu Yadav, who hasn’t featured in a single match so far was again back in the reckoning after Wassan said that he himself had monitored the young cricketer for a two-year period.
Said Wassan, “Sarthak had some mental issues and that’s why did not play during the beginning of the season. Once he was mentally ready, we kept him on stand by for the U-23 squad. I monitored him for two months and now we have picked him as he is a fantastic talent.”
Squad: Pradeep Sangwan (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Rishabh Pant, Himmat Singh, Dhruv Shorey, Lalit Yadav, Kshitij Sharma, Nitish Rana, Navdeep Saini, Pawan Negi, Kulwant Khejroliya, Khistij Sharma, Tejas Barokha, Subodh Bhati, Gaurav Kumar.