Delhi gets ?team? of 30

It was during the Elite Group Ranji Trophy season, that the Delhi selectors vowed to change the direction of the Capital's cricket.

It was during the middle of the Elite Group Ranji Trophy season, that the embarrassed Delhi selectors vowed to change the direction of the Capital's cricket after watching their team's pathetic performance against Mumbai, Bengal and Gujarat.

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"We could not do much this time as we hardly had any time. But before the one-day games this season, we'll certainly have a team for the future along with a camp of at least three weeks," was what most of the voting and "non-voting" members of Delhi cricket's core group said.

The core group took on a different shape with time and a further downward spiral in Delhi's fortunes, with more people getting the right to vote to take Delhi cricket down! On Friday, these six-members met again to decide to agree upon certain already agreed to terms. And, there was just one new face in the gathering, new Delhi skipper Mithun Manhas. He obviously didn't have much say as everyone reached a consensus on a new way to take Delhi to new heights.

And so, instead of a compact squad of 15, we have a probables list of 30!

As reported by HT just two days ago, the constant pressure from a section of the Capital's ruling party finally resulted in their "very own" all-rounder making the cut with the connivance of a senior DDCA office-bearer. Navdeep Tomar, who is backed by both politicians and carloads of persuasive strongmen, has been included without any anti voice.

The biggest beneficiary was, however, another ex-university player (as he's no longer actively playing cricket) Kesar Chaudhary. He also managed a back door entry by creating Tomar-like pressure on certain selectors.

On a day when every "wish" was so openly accepted, some of the selectors also pushed for their own promising players. Ageing speedster Mukesh Dewan was retained for the one-day squad, despite everyone knowing his best days are unfortunately well behind him.

Delhi cricket is moving fast and furiously. Justifying the adage "speed thrills but kills", Delhi drivers (selectors) mowed down young Aditya Jain. Jain, who till a month ago was called the future of Delhi cricket, was sacrificed (after playing just one game) along with the experienced Pradeep Chawla.

But, who cares? Probably, the only sensible decision they made was to axe wicket-keeper Varun Kumar. However, against the backdrop of all kinds of people making the list, this move makes no logical sense, unless the quota seats were filled up and is even, in a warped way, quite unfair.

The 30-member squad will now be divided into two teams and play at least two practice games (definitely on Feb. 2 and 4) ahead of the one-day tournament. The camp begins Monday at the Kotla. "Let them prove themselves in the practice matches. Anyone who performs will be picked in the final squad," said selection committee chairman Anil Jain.

Ranji one-day probables

Mitthun Manhas (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Aakash Chopra, Virat Kohli, Amit Bhandari, Rajat Bhatia, Puneet Bisht (wk), Rajinder Bisht (wk), Joginder Singh, Mohit Sharma, Sarandeep Singh, Chetanya Nanda, Yogesh Sachdeva, Wilkins Victor, Suhail Sharma, Kuunal Lall, Ishant Sharma, Harsh Gautam, NS Negi, Abhinav Bali, Kuldeep Rawat, Premvir Nagar, Ashish Malhotra, Gaurav Chhabra, Pradeep Sangwan, Mukesh Dewan, Hanish Arora, Abhishek Sharma, Kesar Chaudhary and Navdeep Tomar