Shikhar Dhawan named Delhi captain for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021; Ishant Sharma set to make comeback

Delhi have announced a 42-member jumbo squad for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy which is set to be played from January 10. India opener Shikhar Dhawan is named captain of the side while pace bowler Ishant Sharma is also set to make a comeback after a long injury layoff. Dhawan has just returned from Australia tour after playing three ODIs and as many T20Is.

Ishant, on the other hand, has been on the sidelines since the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and has also missed the ongoing Australia Tests. He got fit ahead of the Test series down under but his match fitness needed to be assessed and hence, was ruled out.

The 32-year-old also underwent rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore. If the reports are to be believed, Ishant will not be playing all the matches of the T20 tournament.

Players told to report to coach Rajkumar Sharma

As far as the squad is concerned, apart from Shikhar Dhawan and Ishant Sharma, other top players picked are, Unmukt Chand, Nitish Rana, Pawan Suyal and Manan Sharma among others. Notable name in the squad is of Chand who returned to play for Delhi after shifting his base to Uttarakhand last season. The players have been told to report to coach Rajkumar Sharma.

Delhi didn’t have a great SMAT20 season last time around as they could only win a single game in four matches. They ended up at the bottom place in the points table of Super League Group A. Delhi has been placed in Elite Group E this time around alongside Mumbai, Andhra, Kerala, Haryana and Puducherry.

They will play their first match against the hosts Mumbai on January 11. All Elite Group E matches will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Delhi squad: Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Ishant Sharma, Nitish Rana, Anuj Rawat, Jonty Sidhu, Kshitiz Sharma, Himmat Singh, Lalit Yadav, Dhruv Shorey, Hiten Dalal, Pradeep Sangwan, Simarjeet Singh, Siddhant Sharma, Kunwar Bidhuri, Vikas Mishra, Shivank Vashisth, Manan Sharma, Manjot Kalra, Kulwant Khejroliya, Pawan Negi, Shivam Sharma, Ayush Badoni, Ankur Kaushik, Yogesh Nagar, Hrithik Kanojia, Tejas Baroka, Vaibhav Kandpal, Ajay Ahlawat, Karan Dagar, Unmukt Chand, Lakshay Thareja, Prince Choudhary, Yatharth Singh, Vinayak Gupta, Sarthak Ranjan, Priyansh Arya, Archit Bakshi, Sanat Sangwan, Pradeep Malik, Vaibhav Rawal, Jatin Yadav.