There seems to be no end to troubles for Delhi cricket as former skipper Nitish Rana and last year’s top run-getter in Ranji Trophy Dhruv Shorey have sought No Objection Certificate (NOC) from DDCA to ply their trade for other states during the upcoming domestic season. The development was confirmed by DDCA joint secretary Rajan Manchanda on Friday although he assured that both cricketers will be spoken to and given a patient hearing to find out why they want to take such a decision.
“Yes, it is true that both Dhruv and Nitish want to leave Delhi and have sought NOC. We will definitely request them to stay as both are senior players and have served Delhi cricket. But the final decision will be theirs. If they don’t agree, we will certainly give them NOC,” Manchanda told PTI.
It is understood that Rana, who was the white ball captain till last year, didn’t like him getting replaced by one season-old Yash Dhull.
Rana also has problems with a few players in the Delhi dressing room and notable among them is Mumbai Indians all-rounder Hrithik Shokeen, who did admirably well in red ball cricket.
Delhi couldn’t qualify for the knock-outs despite Shorey ending the season with 859 runs and was the fourth in the list of the highest run-getters after Mayank Agarwal (990), Arpit Vasavada (907) and Anushtup Majumdar (867).
“Nitish is peeved because he was dropped from the red ball team and removed from captaincy. Dhruv is annoyed as selectors dubbed him as a red ball specialist last season. Hence they want to move. May be president Rohan Jaitley will have a word with them but DDCA didn’t even stop Virender Sehwag from leaving the state,” a DDCA director told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
It remains to be seen if DDCA lures Rana with captaincy.
When Manchanda was asked if Rana and Shorey, who are also best buddies in the set-up will have their grievances addressed, he said: “How can we talk about selection matters? It is the prerogative of selection committee.”
Himmat Singh favourite to lead Delhi
Himmat Singh, the gutsy middle-order batter, is tipped to take over Ranji Trophy captaincy this season as most people in DDCA agree that it was hasty decision to hand over captaincy to Dhull, who had till then, had played only one first-class season.
However, Dhull is very much in the national selection committee’s radar for India A as he is among the NCA Targeted players’ list and has been called for a camp, the reason why he won’t be playing the Buchi Babu Trophy in Chennai.
“Yash has been called for a camp in NCA along with Navdeep Saini. He will not play in the Buchi Babu Trophy. We are looking at Himmat as a potential leader. He is someone who never runs away from challenges,” a senior DDCA official privy to developments said.
It is also learnt that Abhay Sharma is unlikely to continue as Delhi team’s head coach.
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