Delhi have named a 24-member Ranji Trophy squad with a first-time call-up for 24-year-old opener Priyansh Arya. Arya had an impressive IPL this year with Punjab Kings, where he claimed the record for most runs (475) by an uncapped Indian player in his debut season. He was part of the India A team that faced Australia A in a series of one-day matches last month and made a century in his first match.
The Delhi Ranji squad was expected to include Rishabh Pant, but his name is currently missing. According to DDCA, the state cricket association, the wicketkeeper batter's selection will depend on the BCCI Centre of Excellence clearing him for duty after he suffered a fractured foot on the tour of England in July. If fit, Pant could even take over the captaincy. However, his chances of playing in Delhi's first Ranji match, starting October 15 against Hyderabad, appear slim.
Veteran Ishant Sharma was not part of the squad, as he has been focusing only on limited-overs cricket since last season.
Alongside Arya, Nitish Rana made a comeback to Delhi's squad. Rana had started his domestic career with Delhi but spent the last two seasons playing for Uttar Pradesh. Earlier this year, he returned to Delhi cricket and dominated the Delhi Premier League (DPL), scoring 393 runs in 11 matches at an average of 65.50 and a strike rate of 181.94. Under his captaincy, East Delhi Riders won the tournament.
The Delhi Ranji team will be captained by Ayush Badoni, with Yash Dhull as vice-captain. Badoni took over the captaincy mid-season last year and finished as Delhi's best performer with 499 runs and 13 wickets. Recently, he was part of India A unofficial Test and one-day squads against Australia A, scoring a half-century in three innings. Earlier, he struck an unbeaten 204 in the Duleep Trophy while representing North Zone.
Vice-captain Dhull made a strong return last year after heart surgery, scoring 444 runs in the Ranji season, including two centuries and a half-century. This season, he began with a century in the Duleep Trophy against East Zone and followed it up with 92 runs in the Irani Cup for Rest of India. He captained Delhi from 2022 to 2024, before being sacked after a loss to Puducherry.
Delhi Ranji Trophy squad: Ayush Badoni (captain), Yash Dhull (vice-captain), Anuj Rawat (wk), Arpit Rana, Sanat Sangwan, Sumit Mathur, Shivam Sharma, Rounak Waghela, Navdeep Saini, Simarjeet Singh, Money Grewal, Siddhant Sharma, Dhruv Kaushik, Pranav Rajvanshi, Nitish Rana, Himmat Singh, Ayush Doseja, Rahul Dagar, Hrithik Shokeen, Priyansh Arya, Tejasvi Dahiya (wk), Vaibhav Kandpal, Rohan Rana, Aryan Rana (subject to fitness).