Gautam Gambhir to lead Delhi in Vijay Hazare trophy

Gautam Gambhir has been named captain of Delhi’s Vijay Hazare Trophy squad while the young Rishabh Pant would play the first three games in the tournament which gets in on September 19.

Veteran paceman Ishant Sharma has been rested after a tough series against England where he injured his ankle on the fourth day of the fifth Test match at The Oval.

Gambhir would lead the 15-member side with Dhruv Shorey as the vice-captain.

The former Indian opener has been handed the responsibility of captaining the team after one year. Pant, who hit his maiden Test century in England recently, had earlier led the Delhi side to the Ranji Trophy final.

Pant didn’t take up the captaincy as he is very likely to be selected for the home series against the West Indies which begins on October 4.

Shorey’s departure to New Zealand with the India A team thus made the Amit Bhandari led selection committee to depend on the services of the veteran Gambhir.

Rookie all-rounder Pranshu Vijayran is the only new inclusion. Vijayran is a left-handed batsman who is also handy with the medium pacers.

Experienced players like Unmukt Chand, Manan Sharma, Pawan Negi and Nitish Rana would be seen in action alongside youngsters Lalit Yadav and Hiten Dalal.  Also, U-22 seamers Gaurav Kumar and Simarjeet Singh have been given selected to play in the senior Delhi team.

Simarjeet had to correct his bowling style after he was reported for suspect action during the CK Nayudu Trophy last year.

Squad: Gautam Gambhir (captain), Dhruv Shorey (vice-captain) , Rishabh Pant (wk), Unmukt Chand, Nitish Rana, Himmat Singh, Manan Sharma, Pawan Negi, Hiten Dalal, Lalit Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Gaurav Kumar, Kulwant Khejroliya, Simarjeet Singh, Pranshu Vijayran.