Fitness concerns sideline Virat Kohli from Delhi’s Ranji Trophy match against Saurashtra

The Delhi selection committee had initially picked a 22-member provisional squad and Kohli's participation was subject to availability

New Delhi: On a day when India skipper Rohit Sharma confirmed his availability for Mumbai’s next Ranji Trophy game against Jammu and Kashmir, megastar Virat Kohli intimated that he won’t be there for Delhi’s fixture against Saurashtra in Rajkot due to a neck niggle.

The Ranji Trophy resumes on January 23. The Delhi selection committee had initially picked a 22-member provisional squad and Kohli’s participation was subject to availability. The squad was picked on Friday by the KP Bhaskar-chaired panel but was not officially released as Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) president Rohan Jaitley was waiting to get a confirmation on the star batter’s availability.

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“Kohli has been advised rest because of a neck sprain sustained during the final Test against Australia at Sydney. He is not available for the Saurashtra game. About the Railways game, which is also Delhi’s last league encounter, we are still not sure,” a senior DDCA official said on conditions of anonymity.

Kohli last played a Ranji Trophy match way back in 2012, against Uttar Pradesh at Ghaziabad’s Mohan Nagar. Ironically, the legendary Sachin Tendulkar played his final Ranji game against Haryana at Lahli in 2013.

After the BCCI made Ranji Trophy participation mandatory, only two among all-star batters are missing out — Kohli for Delhi and KL Rahul for Karnataka due to an elbow niggle. The biggest stars, who are playing, include India skipper Rohit and Yashasvi Jaiswal (Mumbai vs J&K), Rishabh Pant (Delhi vs Saurashtra), and Shubman Gill (Punjab vs Karnataka).

The Delhi team will be led by Ayush Badoni after Pant told the DDCA top boss Jaitley that he wouldn’t like any tinkering of leadership just for a single game when his Lucknow Super Giants colleague is doing a fine job. He wanted continuity in leadership.

In the squad, there are five U-23 players, who, after a training session in Rajkot, will leave for Bhilai to play in an U-23 CK Nayudu Trophy game against Chattisgarh.

Squad: Ayush Badoni (C), Rishabh Pant, Sanat Sangwan, Arpit Rana, Yash Dhull, Jonty Sidhu, Himmat Singh, Navdeep Saini, Money Grewal, Harsh Tyagi, Siddhant Sharma, Shivam Sharma, Pranav Rajvanshi (wk), Vaibhav Kandpal, Mayank Gussain, Gagan Vats, Ayush Doseja, Rounak Waghela, Sumit Mathur, Rahul Gahlot, Jitesh Singh.