Duleep Trophy 2017: Ishant Sharma Ruled Out Of Remainder Of The Tournament

The exodus of the players from the ongoing Duleep Trophy has continued as India fast-bowler Ishant Sharma has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament. The lanky pacer, who was named in the India Blue squad, was very much doubtful for the tournament since he was in England but the confirmation of the news came just a day prior to India Blue’s tournament-opener against India Red on Wednesday (September 13).

Reports suggest that Ishant went to England to look for a county stint. According to media reports, the right-arm pacer had informed the BCCI about his unavailability a week after the squad announcement but his replacement was named only one day before the game.

Ishant has been replaced by Chattisgarh pacer Pankaj Rao.  The 27-year-old pacer made his first-class debut for the state last season when BCCI gave Chattisgarh affiliation. He had played for Madhya Pradesh in the past and made his list A debut way back in 2009 against Railways.

Meanwhile, opening batsman Abhinav Mukund and spinner Krishnappa Gowtham have also been ruled out of the Duleep Trophy. Captain Abhinav Mukund, who missed India Red’s first match against India Green due to dengue, has been ruled out after failing to recover yet and has been replaced by Mumbai’s left-handed opener Akhil Herwadkar. Dinesh Karthik, who was the stand-in captain of India Red for the opening game, will continue to lead the side for the rest of the tournament.

On the other hand, Gowtham, who fell ill while playing for India Red in the opening game and couldn’t take field on Day 4, has been replaced by Mumbai’s left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil for the remainder of the Duleep Trophy.

Here are the updated squads:

India Red: Gahlaut Rahul Singh, Priyank Panchal, Sudip Chatterjee, Ishank Jaggi, Dinesh Karthik (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Baba Indrajith, Vijay Gohil, Karn Sharma, Basil Thampi, Ashok Dinda, Chama Milind, Prithvi Shaw, Siddarth Kaul, Akhil Herwadkar

India Blue: Suresh Raina (c), Samit Gohel, Srikar Bharat, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Manoj Tiwary, Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar, Ishan Kishan (wk), Jayant Yadav, Bhargav Bhatt, Pankaj Rao, Ankit Rajpoot, Sagun Kamat, Jaydev Unadkat

India Green: Murali Vijay, Ravikumar Samarth, Prashant Chopra, Varun Aaron, Karun Nair, Ankit Bawne, Parthiv Patel(c/wk), Shahbaz Nadeem, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Mayank Dagar, Nitin Saini, Aniket Choudhary, Kaushik Gandhi