Ranji Trophy: Plagued by injuries, all top pacers of Delhi ruled out of Tamil Nadu clash

Delhi are in the midst of a turbulent phase as all top pacers from the side have been ruled out of the clash against Tamil Nadu in their forthcoming Ranji Trophy contest. The side will head into the fixture as the underdogs after five of their pacers and the axing of the IPL star Nitish Rana will not feature in the contest at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

It is understood that Mayank Yadav tore his hamstring, veteran pacer Ishant Sharma sustained a side strain, Navdeep Saini is in the NCA with an abdominal muscle strain and Pradeep Sangwan is out of the mix. Adding to their miseries, the side’s most dependable pacer Simarjeet Singh, who racked five wickets in two matches picked up a heel injury and will be on the sidelines in the pacer-friendly conditions.

“We don’t have our main bowlers and that is definitely an issue but we would like to control the sessions. The youngsters who would get opportunities should make full use of it,” said coach Abhay Sharma as quoted by News 18.

DDCA makes prudent call by dropping KKR batter Nitish Rana

The Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) made a rather bold call as they dropped Kolkata Knight Riders batter Nitish Rana. The association believes that the star batter has invested on focusing much of his cricket on the IPL and has not measured up in the red-ball format.

Adding to this, the Delhi Ranji team has been attributed to the lack of foresight on the part of Gagan Khoda’s selection committee due to which the side has faced issues lately. 

“You had no pre-season camp, no proper training session and fast bowlers were highly under-cooked. There was no planning, no vision and what has now happened is exactly what was supposed to happen without systems in place. Some of the pacers were unfit before the season and (after) their return," a senior DDCA official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.