Punished in Sri Lanka, Ishant Sharma's Troubles At Home Spills Over

Ishant Sharma, India's top fast bowler in the Sri Lanka tour with 13 scalps, surprisingly could not find a place in Delhi's Ranji Trophy squad for the opener against Rajasthan, from October 1-4. Veteran Rajat Bhatia too was not included in the 15-member squad. (Pawan Negi Good For India A, But Not For Delhi)

The official reason given by Vinay Lamba, Delhi's chairman of selection committee, was that they could not contact Ishant and so he was axed.

"We tried contacting Ishant but neither did he pick up calls nor replied to our text messages. Also, we don't know whether he can play a first-class match during the period of his ban. If he is eligible to play, we will add him in the squad," Lamba said.

Ishant was banned for one Test match after his violent behaviour in the third Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo was not found appropriate by the match officials. Though the ban may be a factor in Ishant's exclusion, a slew of controversies dogging the Delhi team suggests that there is more to what meets the eye.

Rajat Bhatia (right) is a veteran all-rounder of the Delhi Ranji Trophy team, but still he was not included in the squad for the Rajasthan game, from October 1-4.

© BCCI

Firstly, senior players Virender Sehwag and Mithun Manhas decided not to play for Delhi just before the start of the season. While Sehwag will play for Haryana now, Manhas is going to turn out for Jammu and Kashmir. Officially none of them have said anything but their differences with the Delhi cricket administration is thought to be a major reason behind their abrupt departure.

If this was not enough, then on the first day of the pre-season training camp this month, three different Ranji squad lists were put up by the three warring factions. So, 45 players turned up for practice under one single trainer. To set the house in order, Ajay Jadeja was selected as the coach, but problem still remains.

Ishant is not in either India's ODI or T20I squad for the South Africa series and could have easily played in the Ranji Trophy to get some valuable match practice. So, his exclusion leaves a big questions mark on Delhi selectors and captain Gautam Gambhir's intention.

Also, all-rounder Rajat Bhatia has been one of the most consistent performers for Delhi but his exclusion also leaves with more questions than answers.

According to insiders, Bhatia has fallen out with Gambhir and that's why he was axed. Officially, however, no body is coming out with a comment, leaving people guessing on whether everything is in order or not in Delhi cricket circles.