Hardik Pandya, Wriddhiman Saha, and Ishant Sharma Won’t Play in Ranji Trophy: After a hiatus of almost two years, India’s first top-class national competition i.e. Ranji Trophy is about to start. The 87th Ranji Trophy season, which has been split into two phases due to the Indian Premier League (IPL), as many current Test players will be playing in the IPL. However, wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha, fast bowler Ishant Sharma, and star all-rounder Hardik Pandya will miss this tournament.
Hardik Pandya and Ishant Sharma are currently absent from Team India. In such a situation, everyone is surprised that he does not participate in this great tournament. While Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane will star in the Ranji Trophy. Navdeep Saini (Delhi), Mayank Agarwal (Karnataka), Priyank Panchal (Gujarat), Hanuma Vihari (Hyderabad), Jayant Yadav (Haryana) and Umesh Yadav (Vidarbha) are also expected to play in their respective local teams.
The surprising thing is the exit of Ishant Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, and Hardik Pandya from the tournament, which was the post-national route for India’s ‘A’ team. Saha told The Telegraph on Thursday that he could not play the Ranji Trophy for Bengal for “personal reasons”. In the context of Ishant, there were indications that he was not playing for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy as he did not do well as a test fast bowler. On the other hand, Hardik Pandya, the new captain of Gujarat Titans, can come back from injury thanks to a clean ball game. His older brother Kunal is on Baroda’s Ranji Trophy team.
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With the Ranji Trophy now due to start on February 17, several players who were part of the South Africa Test squad have a chance to prove themselves in red-ball cricket ahead of the Sri Lankan home series.
Senior drummers Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane will play for their respective teams Saurashtra and Mumbai. Incidentally, Saurashtra and Mumbai are in elite group D along with Goa and Odisha and will play all matches in Ahmedabad.
Playing in the Ranji Trophy will give Pujara and Rahane a chance to score valuable points after being out of form for a long time. Since cricket resumed after the enforced Covid-19 break, Rahane has only scored a century, while Pujara’s last century was against Australia in Sydney in 2019.
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly told Sportstar: “Yes he is a very good player. I hope he goes back to the Ranji Trophy and scores many runs, which I am sure he will. The Ranji Trophy is a huge tournament and we’ve all played that tournament. So they’ll also go back there and play.”
Apart from Rahane and Pujara, Navdeep Saini (Delhi), Mayank Agarwal (Karnataka), Priyank Panchal (Gujarat), Hanuma Vihari (Hyderabad), Jayant Yadav (Haryana) and Umesh Yadav (Vidarbha) are also expected to play at their respective homes teams.
Meanwhile, some members of the U-19 World Cup-winning squad, including captain Yash Dhul, have been included in the Ranji Trophy squad for their respective squads. Dhul will join Delhi for his matches, while left-arm pacer Ravi Kumar will play for Bengal. Versatile Paes Raj Bawa and fly-half Harnoor Singh are part of the Chandigarh team, while Anishwar Gautam will also represent the Karnataka team.
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