Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018: Gautam Gambhir to Lead as DDCA Announces Squad

The Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) named a 15-member squad for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy. The team has picked for the first three matches of the impending tournament. As the southpaw, Gautam Gambhir is all set to lead the team

The unit comprises of some exceptional talent with none better than wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, who recently got the exposure of batting in alien conditions in England. He was quite brilliant in the fifth and final Test at The Kennington Oval in London. He smashed his maiden Test century by smashing the English bowlers all around the park.

Rishabh Pant will don the keeping gloves:

The wicket-keeping duties will carried by Pant. Veteran opening batsman Gambhir has a lot on his shoulders. Whereas, Dhruv Shorey will be the deputy of Gambhir.

Gambhir hasn’t been in the greatest of touches in the recent times. His performances at the top of the order will be crucial to Delhi’s chances in the tournament.

Pant might also open the innings with his skipper given his exceptional abilities to strike the ball. If he can get his team off to a good start, it will be difficult for the opposition to force their way back into the match.

Former Indian Under-19 World Cup-winning skipper Unmukt Chand has been included in the 15-man squad along with another brilliant middle-order batsman Nitish Rana.

Chand has not performed quite admirably in the recent past. However, Rana has been quite impressive. But he played for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2018 edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) and scored crucial runs for them in the tournament.

All-rounder Pawan Negi is also part of the balanced squad. Young speedster Kulwant Khejroliya, who impressed with his stint in the IPL has also been picked.

Besides picking the 15 member squad, DDCA also announced five standby players for the tournament in case they need them.

Here is the 15-member squad announced by DDCA for the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018 as Gautam Gambhir will lead the potent side:

Gautam Gambhir, Dhruv Shorey, Unmukt Chand, Rishabh Pant, Nitish Rana, Himmat Singh, Hiten Dalal, Lalit Yadav, Manan Sharma, Pawan Negi, Navdeep Saini, Kulwant Khejroliya, Gaurav Kumar, Simarjeet Singh, Pranshu Vijayan

Standby’s

Milind Kumar, Prashant Bhandari, Sarthak Ranjan, Varun Sood, Akash Sudan