Yashpal takes back resignation, claims Dev

On Wednesday, DDCA sports secretary circulated a letter saying that Yashpal Sharma has agreed to take back his resignation and continue in his capacity as the chief selector of Delhi team. Yashpal had quit after differences over selection matters and some ego issues that afflicted senior players. It seems that some sort of assurances have been given to Yashpal before he agreed. Dev and the new sports committee are seemingly not that keen in having Chetan Chauhan back as the chairman.

Yashpal quits as chief selector after Delhi crash out of Vijay Hazare knockouts

Delhi has disappointed once again. Despite the presence of so many stars, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Ashish Nehra and Unmukt Chand, the fancied team barely qualified for the Vijay Hazare national one-dayers knockouts and then lost to Mumbai. The loss was hard enough on chief selector Yashpal Sharma, who quit from his post all of a sudden.
While DDCA president Sneh Bansal says Yashpal had prior personal commitments, the reality is far from that. Yashpal was pressured into selecting players he did not want from some DDCA officials as well as the sports committee, according to sources.
One of the officials said that Gambhir was given the side of his choice and he didn’t want any changes even when they were losing badly.
Former Delhi cricketer and junior selector Narendra Negi took out the ire on facebook, saying, “This had to happen. Players who have scored runs and taken wickets were not even picked in the squad.”
There were demands to put Shelly Shaurya, Aditya Kaushik, Pratyush Singh and Kshitiz Sharma in the team for the final games of league phase which Yashpal was avoiding. He even thought of bringing in U-19 captain Himmat Singh into the side. Himmat has been scoring runs and made 181 in the victory over Tripura in Cooch Behar Trophy.
Apart from that Yashpal seemed to have been fed up with the constant bickering in the Delhi team. All the seniors were hell bent on playing. Only upon the threat of not getting selected in the North Zone side for Deodhar Trophy side, did Sehwag and Gambhir decide to stay away and let Unmukt Chand play. Chand too hasn’t been doing any good for Delhi. But national selector Vikram Rathour wanted him in the North Zone as he considers his talent valuable.
Gambhir and Sehwag also seem to be having clash of egos. Gambhir has been backing Sumit Narwal while Sehwag wants Pradeep Sangwan. The selectors say that they can’t simply draft in Sangwan as he has just returned from doping ban. One of the officials asked, “Is there no pace bowler in Delhi that can replace these oldies?”
There are plenty but nobody is thinking over that.
“Those who have helped bring in the proxies during the elections are bound to have a sy in selection,” says a senior official.
As far as latest reports are to be believed, Chetan Chauhan may return as the chairman of selectors. But the fact is that Delhi are in huge turmoil and the seniors are not helping.

Unimpressive Delhi manage to qualify for knockouts

It eventually had to boil down to the wire with Delhi and Punjab barely making it to the knockouts of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Delhi were in a must-win situation in their last two games, against Haryana and Services and they just managed to scrape past both their opponents to make it through. For one of the richest associations, the sight of losing to Jammu and Kashmir and then to Himachal Pradesh was a disappointing one.
More importantly, both Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir didn’t look god enough. Both did click in the all-important game against Haryana, Sehwag cracking a 68-ball 80 while Gambhir making a steady 93 but they lacked consistency. Worse was Ashish Nehra, who seems to be getting less inspiring as the years go by. He has had fitness issues and here he didn’t do really well.
On tracks which supported bowlers, the failure of batsmen was fine but what about Nehra, the ace swing, who according to a leading newspaper is in reckoning for World Cup. His proximity to captain Dhoni, thanks to Nehra’s association with Chennai Super Kings, may be the driving factor in this speculation but with him not able to do much for his state side is certainly putting question marks on his utility for Delhi. There are people from the previous sports committee saying that we don’t need Nehra at all. “Feed in younger bowlers,” said a committe spokesperson.  
Match 4: Haryana 247 all out in 50 overs (S Rana 71, V Tokas 4/41) lost to Delhi 251/7 in 42.1 overs (G Gambhir 93, V Sehwag 80, Joginder Sharma 4/27)
Match 5: Services 146 all out in 40.1 overs (Vikas Tokas 4/43) lost to Delhi 148/7 in 34.4 overs (R Bhatia 34, G Gambhir 4, V Sehwag 20)

Vikas Dixit stars as Delhi beat Saurashtra

Off-spinner Vikas Dixit, who came into limelight after a 10-wicket haul in the DDCA league match a couple of seasons back, helped Delhi U-19 beat Saurashtra by eight wickets in the Cooch Behar U-19 match at Rajkot. The win puts Delhi colts, who became the North Zone one-day champions this year, in a strong position and favourites in the group. They had earlier beaten Kerala.

Dixit made 92 while Jonty Sidhu scored 97 as Delhi were all out for 355 in first innings. Rajesh Sharma made 52 while Rishabh Pant scored 50. Dixit then took 7/74 as Saurashtra were bundled out for 192. Following on, hosts Saurashtra could make only 313 runs with Samarth Vyas scoring 74 and Priyajit Chudasama 56. Sagar Malik took 6/77. Delhi, needing 151, romped home with eight wickets to spare. Rishabh Pant made 77 not out while Sarthak Ranjan scored 65.

Delhi 355 (Jonty Sidhu 97, Vikas Dixit 92, Rajesh Sharma 52, Rishabh Pant 50) and 154/2 (Rishabh Pant 77*, Sarthak Ranjan 65) beat Saurashtra 192 (Vikas Dixit 7/74) and 313 Samarh Vyas 74, Priyajit Chudasama 56, Sagar Malik 6/77)

 

Delhi lose to Himachal, may crash out

The start of the domestic season has been disastrous for Delhi. On Monday, they suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Himachal Pradesh. It is a loss that has put their qualification chances in jeopardy.
They lost to Jammu and Kashmir in the first game before beating Punjab in the second game. This latest loss has put them on the backfoot. Surprisingly, Delhi has all the firepower with their star-studded line-up. But none of it has come good.
Gautam Gambhir fell in early 20s again while Virender Sehwag and Unmukt Chand both made 11. Paceman Ashish Nehra, despite getting a seamer-friendly track, went for 68 in his 10 overs. It was a poor show by Nehra, going for 6.8, when the Himachal run-rate was well below 5.
Delhi will need to win their last two games, against Services and Haryana, to have any chances of making it to the knockout phase.
Himachal Pradesh 244/6 in 50 overs (Raghav Dhawan 89, Rishi Dhawan 41, R Bhatia 3/42) beat Delhi 231 in 50 overs (Milind Kumar 69, Rajat Bhatia 34, Raghav Dhawan 3/47)

Delhi beat Punjab to stay alive in Vijay Hazare

With former India stars waning, the crowd at Nadaun in Himachal Pradesh that had gathered to see them were in for disappointment on Saturday. Virender Sehwag flopped while Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir too couldn’t get going as Delhi beat Punjab in their second match of the North Zone one-day league of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Punjab were restricted to 182/6 in 45 overs as Sumit Narwal picked three wickets for 23 runs. Yuvi could make just 15 in 34 balls with two boundaries. It was a tough wicket to bat on. In reply, Delhi 188/6 in 44 overs but not without early jitters. Sehwag, opening the innings, fell for a duck while Gambhir could make just 22. It was left to Rajat Bhatia once again. He made unbeaten 58 while Puneet Bisht scored 30 as a 51-run partnership between the two brought Delhi out of a hole.
The win came as a relief for Delhi who were criticised after losing their first match to J&K. Former Delhi and India player Surinder Khanna lamented the loss by sending out his trademark SMS and hitting out at the sports committee.
The win over Punjab brings Delhi back and opens up the league. J&K have surprisingly won both their matches. Punjab have lost both. It will be interesting to see how things pan out in the next few days. One thing is for sure, this North Zone league will go down to the wire.
Punjab 182/6 in 45 overs (T Kohli 50, Gurkeerat 47, S Narwal 3/23) lost to Delhi 188/6 in 44 overs (R Bhatia 58*, P Bisht 30, Amitoze 3/23)

Delhi lose to Jammu and Kashmir in Vijay Hazare

So Yashpal Sharma’s elevation to the chairmanship of the Delhi selection committee didn’t have the desired effect. Yashpal, who replaced Chetan Chauhan, oversaw the selection of a team that was full of oldies. All the Delhi stars, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Unmukt Chand flopped as Delhi crashed to a two-wicket defeat against lowly Jammu and Kashmir in the first match of the North Zone one-day league for Vijay Hazare Trophy being played at Himachal Pradesh.

Jammu and Kashmir, who were troubled by the recent floods and had to shift preparations to Mohali, skittled out Delhi for 212. From 59/0, Samiullah Beigh made it 73/3 removing the top 3. Only half-centuries from Milind Kumar and Rajat Bhatia helped them get past 200. It was not enough as Parvez Rasool and then Beigh took them past the Delhi total. With Sehwag not showing any great form and Gambhir only coming up with occasional performances, the pressure is on them to perform.

Delhi 212 (Milind Kumar 61, Rajat Bhatia 50, S Beigh 3/35) lost to J&K 216/8 (Parvez Rasool 74, P Awana 3/40)

 

Delhi get three points over Kerala in U-19

Captain Himmat Singh’s 50, Rajesh Sharma’s 61 and Kunwar Biduri’s 70 helped Delhi beat Kerala via first innings lead and get three points in the Cooch Behar U-19 cricket tournament. Delhi had made 283 in the first innings to which Kerala replied with just 223.
Delhi 283 & 312 vs Kerala 223