Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant named in Delhi's probable squad for 2024-25 Ranji Trophy
Virat Kohli could turn up for Delhi in the upcoming Ranji Trophy season after being included in the probable squad to prepare for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy later this year. Fellow India international Rishabh Pant also found a place in the 84-man list while veteran pacer Ishant Sharma was excluded.
The upcoming season of the Ranji Trophy has been divided into two halves, with the white-ball domestic tournaments to be played in between. The first leg will be played between October 11 and November 16, while the second leg will kickstart from January 23 onwards.
Delhi will begin their campaign with a clash against Chhatisgarh. However, with the opening round of the Ranji Trophy season coinciding with India's home series against New Zealand, Kohli and Pant will be unavailable. When the three-match Test series culminates on November 5, there is a small gap until the away Australia series.
India are scheduled to tour South Africa during the timeframe, but it does not concern Kohli as it involves four T20Is.
"A fitness test for the selected players will take place on September 26, 2024. Players currently on international duty are exempt from this fitness test," read the DDCA's statement.
Delhi are looking for a turnaround in their fortunes after naming former India spinner Sarandeep Singh as their new coach. They missed out on the knockout stages of the previous Ranji Trophy campaign after finishing third in Group D below Madhya Pradesh and Baroda.
Kohli was last named in Delhi's probable squad in 2018
The former India skipper was last named in Delhi's probable squad six years ago but did not play a game. His last Ranji Trophy match was during the 2012-13 season against Uttar Pradesh, where he scored 14 and 43 before being dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar on both occasions.
Kohli was touted to play in the Duleep Trophy 2024 ahead of the home season but did not feature along with other select senior members.
Delhi's 84-member probable list for Ranji Trophy 2024-25
Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Himmat Singh, Pranshu Vijayan, Anirudh Chowdhary, Kshitiz Sharma, Vaibhav Kandpal, Siddhant Bansal, Samarth Seth, Jonty Sidhu, Siddhant Sharma, Tishant Dabla, Navdeep Saini, Harsh Tyagi, Lakshay Thareja (wk), Sumit Mathur, Shivank Vashisth, Salil Malhotra, Ayush Badoni, Gagan Vats, Rahul S Dagar, Hrithik Shokeen, Mayank Rawat, Anuj Rawat (wk), Simarjeet Singh, Shivam Kumar Tripathi, Kuldip Yadav, Lalit Yadav, Prince Choudhary, Shivam Kishore Kumar, Shivam Gupta (wk), Vaibhav Sharma, Jitesh Singh, Rohit Yadav, Sumit Kumar, Anmol Sharma, Keshav Daba, Sanat Sangwan, Shubham Sharma (wk), Aryan Chaudhary, Aryan Rana, Bhagwan Singh, Pranav Rajvanshi (wk), Saurav Dagar, Money Grewal, Kunwar Bidhuri, Nikhil Sangwan, Puneet Chahal, Priyansh Arya, Yash Dhull, Prince Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav, Suyash Sharma, Arpit Rana, Divij Mehra, Sujal Singh, Hardik Sharma, Himanshu Chauhan, Ayush Doseja, Ankit Rajesh Kumar, Dhruv Kaushik, Ankur Kaushik, Krish Yadav, Vansh Bedi, Yash Sehrawat, Vikas Solanki, Rajesh Sharma, Tejasvi Dahiya (wk), Rounak waghela, Manpreet Singh, Rahul Gahlot, Aryan Sehrawat, Shivam Sharma, Siddharth Sharma, Parv Singla, Yogesh Singh, Deepesh Baliyan, Sagar Tanwar, Rishab Rana, Akhil Chaudhary, Digvesh Rathi, Sarthak Ranjan, Ajay Guliya