Shelly Shaurya: What's he doing leading Delhi U-25?

Twelve days ago, former Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya made a searing statement on his twitter account. “Heartbreaking to see kids give their all in trial matches. Little do they realize that the selectors already have their "Sixteen" #DelhiU-25.”

Dahiya, who was Delhi Ranji coach till last year, was making his exasperation clear.

Nepotism and preferences are a case in every cricket association in India. In Delhi, they tend to get exposed more often. But rarely do players, of international level, make their feelings public like Dahiya did here.

The case in point were the selection trials for the Under-25 Delhi team that is going to compete in the Col CK Nayudu Trophy from October 28.

Firstly, the effort of the 110 kids went to waste. Seven of the kids that were in contention had already represented Delhi at the highest level and there were few others, who were already in contention for being backed by the management and the sports committee. So the question, as Dahiya pointed out, why were the rest of the kids called at all for trial games and made to waste their time, energy and money?

Worst is the case with the choice of captain, Shelly Shaurya. It was a terrible choice, to say the least. A kid who has not represented Delhi at the highest level was being made the captain ahead of seven players who have represented Delhi at the top level. Consider these members and their experience, Dhruv Shorey (6 List As & 3 T20s), Jagrit Anand (7 List As & 9 T20s), Varun Sood (16 List As & 18 T20s), Rahul Yadav (1 Ranji, 7 List As and 6 T20s), Yogesh Nagar (15 Ranji, 16 List As and 45 T20s), Rishit Saini (1 Ranji) and Sunny Sehrawat (1 Ranji & 2 T20s) --- they are all ahead in experience to Shaurya.

So, why was Shaurya picked and who is he? The story is interesting. His father, a member of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), had sat on fast unto death just a few weeks back and made it clear by sending SMSes to the management and ex-players about it. His grouse was that his son wasn’t selected for the Delhi one-day team that was to play the Challenger Trophy in late September in a team that comprised Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rajat Bhatia, Puneet Bisht and Ashish Nehra among others.

“He is trying to extract his pound of flesh,” said a senior official at the time.

Shaurya’s dad had helped the current sports committee dislodge Tihara and his group from power after 10 years. He played a key role in having many clubs vote for the new dispensation in sports committee elections. “You can gauge the level of help he had provided by the manner of his demand. He wanted his inexperienced son to play in a high-quality, star-studded Challenger series that was to act trials for many India players like Sehwag,” said an official then.

The selection panel, headed by Chetan Chauhan, didn’t budge then and thankfully didn’t draft him. A similar demand was made to draft him into Ranji side that has already left for Ranchi but again it was turned down.

So, the next best option was to have him in U-25 and make him lead it. It is difficult to say how the rest of the more experienced players are feeling but Delhi Cricket is feeling surprised. The decision could also be harsh on Shaurya, who'll always be known more for the way he became the captain and not for his performances and always be under extra pressure.