The Delhi selection committee and captain Ishant Sharma came up with the best possible combination to represent the team in the knockout phase of the Vijay Hazare tournament to be played here from February 21 to 27.
Delhi, despite being the host, will meet Andhra at the Palam ground, its second choice venue, and not at the Ferozeshah Kotla, on Thursday.
Gautam Gambhir returns to the squad after sitting out the league phase due to an ankle injury. He submitted his fitness certificate to the team management on Sunday and became an automatic selection.
From the team that played in the league, three changes have been effected – Harsh Tyagi, Gambhir and Himmat Singh in place of Manan Sharma, Kshitiz Sharma and Subodh Bhati.
Specialist left-arm spinner Tyagi was preferred over Manan Sharma, a batting all-rounder, while Himmat returned in place of Kshitiz. Seamer Bhati, despite good performance, lost out to the combination of four fast bowlers since the team management insisted on an extra batsman.
The most laudable selection was Tyagi, who has been an impressive performer in the junior circuit and has the backing of Ishant Sharma. Tyagi is the lone new face in the team.
Manjot Kalra, the left-hander who excelled at the recent ICC U-19 World Cup, could not be accommodated due to the consistency of the top order where Unmukt Chand, Hiten Dalal, Shorey, Nitish Rana and Rishabh Pant have all been among the runs. The lone slot in the middle-order went to Himmat in place of Kalra.
The team : Ishant Sharma (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Unmukt Chand, Rishabh Pant, Nitish Rana, Hiten Dalal, Dhruv Shorey, Lalit Yadav, Himmat Singh, Kulwant Khejroliya, Pradeep Sangwan, Navdeep Saini, Pawan Negi, Harsh Tyagi and Milind Kumar.
Standbys : Anuj Rawat, Subodh Bhati, Manjot Kalra, Manan Sharma and Shivam Sharma.
The schedule :
Feb 21 : Karnataka v Hyderabad (Ferozeshah Kotla) and Mumbai v Maharashtra (Palam).
Feb 22 : Andhra v Delhi (Palam) and Baroda v Sauraashtra (Ferozeshah Kotla).
Feb 24 : Semifinal 1 at Ferozeshah Kotla.
Feb 25 : Semifinal 2 at Ferozeshah Kotla.
Feb 27 : Final at Ferozeshah Kotla.
