Gautam Gambhir retained as captain of Delhi Ranji Team

Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir has been formally retained as captain of the Delhi Ranji Team for the 2015-‘16 season, Wisden cricket reports. A curious confusion had previously prevailed over who would lead the team, as Sportskeeda had reported, and Gambhir was even told not to attend training sessions till the confusion was cleared.

The Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA), has decided to retain the former Indian opener as the skipper for the upcoming Ranji season, in the absence of the other senior player Virender Sehwag, who now plays for the Haryana Team.

Over the past few weeks, there had been speculation about who would be rightful person to lead Delhi, with India-A batsman Unmukt Chand’s name doing the rounds. However, the selectors decided to stick to the former Indian batsman, because of his broad experience.

Likely that Jadeja will continue as coach: DDCA official

With the three selectors, Vinay Lamba, Rahul Sanghvi and Hari Gidwani zeroing on Gambhir’s name, it is yet again an opportunity for the 33-year old to showcase his talent and make a well-deserved comeback to the Indian Cricket Team.

Gambhir has been the captain of the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR), since 2011. He even led the team to victory in 2012 and 2014. However, his exposure in International Cricket has been minimal. His last international match for India was in an ODI against England in 2013. Ever since, Gambhir has struggled to get in the scheme of things for India again, with bad form and the rare injury troubling him.

Despite his limited international exposure in the last couple of years, the three selectors have decided to trust Gambhir and have retained him as the Delhi skipper. Vinay Lamba, chairman of the selection committee, said, “All of us, the three selectors were unanimous in our opinion that Gautam is the right man to lead the Delhi Ranji Trophy team. Accordingly, we took the decision and intimated it to the convenor.”

The final squad, however, will be announced in the next couple of days, before Delhi take on Rajasthan in their opening fixture. With the debate about the captaincy coming to a close, there is still doubts lingering about the position of a coach. Delhi, interestingly are yet to appoint a coach for the team. Right now, only Ajay Jadeja and Vijay Dahiya have been overseeing things and managing team-affairs.

DDCA want Ajay Jadeja to take charge of things, but Gambhir has been backing Dahiya, who is part of the KKR coaching team, for the position of coach. "Although Gautam doesn't need a coach to learn batting, he has clearly made a point that he would love to have Dahiya back. But it's most likely that Jadeja will continue because he has been appointed by powerful forces in the DDCA," said a top DDCA official.