Former India U-19 captain Yash Dhull, who also led DDCA in the 2022-23 Ranji Trophy season, failed to find a place in the Mandeep Singh-led North Zone squad for Duleep Trophy. Dhull had an ordinary season with the bat for Delhi and could only manage 270 runs in 10 innings. The right-hander’s best of 72 came in the side’s last league game against Hyderabad.
“There weren’t many runs to back Dhull’s case. The name came up for discussion but there were others who had done better. For the middle-order, we had players who scored big hundreds and also runs in testing conditions of Lahli,” said a source known to the developments.
Dhull’s state mates Dhruv Shorey and Harshit Rana have been picked after impressive performances with bat and the ball respectively. While Shorey accumulated 859 runs, including three hundreds, at the top of the order, Rana led the inexperienced bowling attack with 21 wickets from five fixtures. Rana was a unanimous choice and continues to be an exciting prospect with his ability to bowl long spells at a decent pace.
“Harshit Rana has impressed everyone. He bowls in the 140s and we saw how he bowled the long spells in the last Ranji Trophy season. He is there in the emerging camp at NCA and is doing the right things at the moment,” adds the source.
In what looks like a very strong squad on paper, Prashant Chopra, Prabhsimran Singh and Dhruv Shorey have been picked as the three openers and Manan Vohra finds a place for the No.3 position. The middle-order will see Haryana’s Ankit Kumar and Himachal Pradesh’s Ankit Kalsi.
The seam bowling department will be led by experienced Punjab seamer Sidharth Kaul who has Baltej Singh, Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana. The spin-attack too wears a formidable look with India spinner Jayant Yadav, India A offie Pulkit Narang and J&K spinner Abid Mushtaq in the mix.
In the standbys, India leggie Mayank Markande and left-arm spinner Mayank Dagar find a place. Also rewarded for a good performance in his debut season is Delhi’s young seam-bowling all-rounder Divij Mehra. Mehra impressed in the game against Mumbai where he ran through an experienced batting order, featuring the likes of Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan and Ajinkya Rahane, with a probing spell. Both Mehra and Rana are part of the Emerging Camp underway at the NCA.
Also in the standbys, is talented left-hander Nehal Wadhera who rose to fame with his exploits for Mumbai Indians in the recently concluded Indian Premier League.
Squad: Mandeep Singh (c), Prashant Chopra, Dhruv Shorey, Manan Vohra, Prabhsimran Singh, Ankit Kumar, AS Kalsi, Harshit Rana, Abid Mushtaq, Jayant Yadav, Pulkit Narang, Nishant Sandhu, Sidharth Kaul, Vaibhav Arora, Baltej Singh.
Standbys: Mayank Markande, Mayank Dagar, Divij Mehra, Anmol Malhotra, Diwesh Pathania, Ravi Chouhan, Kunal Mahajan, Nehal Wadhera.
Support staff: Ajay Ratra (coach), Deepak Surya (physio), Rajneesh Mehta (trainer), Amit Sharma (performance analyst), Naresh Kumar Motla (masseur), Col. Irshad A Khan (Manager).