India’s star wicketkeeper-batsman, Rishabh Pant, who played for Delhi against Saurashtra in a Ranji Trophy 2024-25 Elite Group D match at Rajkot last week, would be missing out on the last group stage match against Railways. The fixture is scheduled to be held from January 30 to February 2 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The young stumper of 27 was not included in Delhi’s squad for the match which was announced on Monday, January 27.
Pant, who once captained the Delhi Ranji team, struggled with the bat against Saurashtra through an episode that saw the team sustain an embarrassing 10-wicket defeat inside two days. He had batted at No. 5 in the first innings and faced 10 balls before he scored one run and was caught and bowled by Dharmendrasinh Jadeja. On his stance as the torchbearer of Saurashtra, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja got the better of Pant in the second innings and ended up with a match haul of 12 wickets – seven in the second.
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In his absence in the Railways match, Delhi would be buoyed with the return of the Indian cricketer and a very fine batter, Virat Kohli, who used to lead in all formats previously.
The 36-year-old right-handed batter was included in the Delhi squad and would be playing the game after a long eight years. Kohli last played a Ranji Trophy encounter against Uttar Pradesh at Mohan Nagar, Ghaziabad, in 2012.
Virat Kohli is currently training with the Delhi Ranji team.
Delhi’s squad: Ayush Badoni (C), Virat Kohli, Pranav Rajvanshi (WK), Sanat Sangwan, Arpit Rana, Mayank Gusain, Shivam Sharma, Sumit Mathur, Vansh Bedi (WK), Money Grewal, Harsh Tyagi, Siddhant Sharma, Navdeep Saini, Yash Dhull, Gagan Vats, Jonty Sidhu, Himmat Singh, Vaibhav Kandpal, Rahul Gehlot, Jitesh Singh.