Dhull named captain of Delhi Ranji team, Ishant also in squad for first two games

Less than a year after he captained India Under-19 to the World Cup triumph, 20-year-old Yash Dhull has been named captain of the Delhi Ranji team with 100-Test veteran Ishant Sharma and IPL star Nitish Rana in its ranks.

Dhull will be one of the youngest ever to captain Delhi and that too in his ninth first-class game after a promising start in the Ranji Trophy last season.

In eight games that he has played so far, Dhull has scored 820 runs, including four hundreds, at an average of 74.54.

It is understood that DDCA brass wanted to carry out the tough transition from this season and Dhull, by virtue of being one of the most consistent performers and someone with leadership acumen, has been handed over the reins.

"Somewhere we had to draw the line, we need to carry out a transition," a source close to the DDCA selection committee told PTI. "Pradeep Sangwan, the last year's captain, had to be dropped as he hasn't been measuring up."

The squad has been selected for the first two games, against Maharashtra from December 13-16 and against Assam from December 20-23.

Ishant, too, is also part of the squad for those two matches. "Ishant has also been given a couple of games. Let's hope he shoulders more responsibility," the source said.

Squad: Yash Dhull (capt), Himmat Singh (vice-capt), Dhruv Shorey, Anuj Rawat (wk), Vaibhav Rawal, Lalit Yadav, Nitish Rana, Ayush Badoni, Hrithik Shokeen, Shivank Vashisth, Vikas Mishra, Jonty Sidhu, Ishant Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Harshit Rana, Simarjeet Singh Lakshay Thareja (wk), Pranshu Vijayran