Ishant Sharma confirms his availability for Delhi

Ishant back in Delhi’s squad

After weeks of speculation, the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) committee has finally confirmed that Indian pacer Ishant Sharma will be available for the second match of the upcoming Ranji Trophy season, reports Firstpost.

The DDCA included Ishant with immediate effect to the squad but still he will only be available from the second match when Delhi will meet Vidarbha. The Sports Secretary Sunil Dev released a one-sentence statement for the media confirming Ishant’s availability.

"Ishant Sharma has confirmed his availability from the second Ranji Trophy match, but we are including him in the team right now," the statement read.

Yesterday, when the Delhi's squad for the Ranji Trophy 2015-16 season was announced, Ishant's name was missing from the 15-member list. The DDCA was asked to answer that why the Indian spearhead was not selected? To which, the senior selection chairman of the DDCA committee, Vinay Lamba replied that Ishant was "unreachable" and that was the reason they did not select him.

"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 had said.

According to the reports in the website, a senior BCCI official blasted DDCA for making statements like Ishant's one-Test ban might have something to do with his selection in Ranji team.

"It was a ridiculous move. Have you ever heard that selectors calling up players to ask if you want to play or not? They just select the players. If the player has injury issues, he will intimate it to the state association. Ishant's one-Test ban had no bearing on his Ranji Trophy participation. Hope DDCA and their selectors had done some homework," a senior BCCI said.