Media365
Nitish Rana will lead Delhi in the upcoming 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, while wrist-spinner Digvesh Rathi has not been selected for the tournament starting November 26.Delhi has been assigned to Elite Group D and will compete against Jharkhand, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Saurashtra, and Tripura. All matches will be played in Ahmedabad.
The team’s sole victory in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy came in the 2017-18 season under Pradeep Sangwan’s leadership.This season marks Rana’s first appearance for Delhi after transferring from Uttar Pradesh. He was absent from the playing eleven during the first half of the Ranji Trophy, where the team failed to secure any wins.Rana, who will join Delhi Capitals in IPL 2026 following his transfer from Rajasthan Royals, recently led West Delhi Lions to victory in the 2025 Delhi Premier League. He scored impressive knocks of 134-, 45-, and 79-.During DPL 2025’s Qualifier 1, Rana had a publicised verbal exchange with Rathi. The spinner had previously performed well for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2025, claiming 14 wickets with an economy rate of 7.59. Rathi’s exclusion from Delhi’s squad appears to be due to his underwhelming performance in DPL 2025. The selection committee, comprising Yashpal Singh, K. Bhaskar Pillai, and Manu Nayar, made their decisions in the presence of head coach Sarandeep Singh, CAC Chairman Vijay Dahiya, and DDCA Secretary Ashok Sharma.Ishant Sharma’s participation depends on his recovery from injury. He is currently undergoing rehabilitation at the BCCI CoE facility in Bengaluru. Similarly, Navdeep Saini’s availability is uncertain due to an injury that restricted his Ranji Trophy appearances.All-rounder Harshit Rana’s selection is conditional as he is being considered for India’s upcoming white-ball series against South Africa, which includes three ODIs and five T20Is.Priyansh Arya and Suyash Sharma will join the Delhi team following India A’s elimination from the Rising Asia Cup in Doha after their semi-final loss to Bangladesh A.The squad includes established players like Ayush Badoni, Yash Dhull, Himmat Singh, Anuj Rawat, Harsh Tyagi, and Prince Yadav.Several DPL performers have also earned spots in the team, including Arpit Rana, Sarthak Ranjan, Tejasvi Dahiya, Ayush Doseja, Money Grewal, and Simarjeet Singh.The team is scheduled to depart for Ahmedabad either Sunday evening or Monday morning.Delhi squad: Nitish Rana (captain), Priyansh Arya, Sarthak Ranjan, Ayush Badoni, Arpit Rana, Ayush Doseja, Mayank Rawat, Tejasvi (wk), Anuj Rawat (wk), Himmat Singh, Yash Dhull, Simarjeet Singh, Rahul Dagar, Yash Bhatia, Ankit Rajesh Kumar, Harsh Tyagi, Suyash Sharma, Prince Yadav, Money Grewal, Rohan Rana, Dhruv Kaushik, Aryan Rana and Vaibhav Kandpal.
