India knows he is available, but not Delhi!

On the day Team India started its preparation in Bengaluru to gear up for the South Africa series, speedster Ishant Sharma got a shocker from his home team, Delhi – he was “dropped” from the state squad for the first four Ranji Trophy matches of the season. Ishant had been banned by the ICC for the first Test at Mohali due to disciplinary issues on the recent tour of Sri Lanka. Delhi’s new selection panel, led by Vinay Lamba, dropped Ishant after they failed to establish contact with him to ascertain his availability to play for the state team.

“It was unanimously decided to not include Ishant’s name if he has no time to inform his parent body about his availability,” Lamba told media in India after the meeting in which Ishant was dropped.

“I personally called him three-four times and left a message also to know whether he is available. It was not just Ishant, I called Ashish Nehra, too. I got a call later in the day from Nehra that he will not be available for any four-day game. However, there was no communication received from Ishant. So we all decided to leave him out till he clarified his position,” Lamba added. A leading daily from Delhi however reported that “Lambu”, as he’s popularly known, is not liked by many in the Ferozeshah Kotla premises. Ishant, who is currently with Team India training in Bengaluru, has reportedly said there that he “didn’t get any phone call or SMS message from the DDCA selection committee chairman or any of the members”. Another key member of the team, all-rounder Rajat Bhatia, was also left out of the Delhi squad, which is to be captained by Gautam Gambhir. The reason apparently given by one member of the selection committee was that Bhatia and Gambhir have “fallen out”. “We didn’t consider Bhatia because the skipper told us that he doesn’t figure in his (Gambhir’s) playing eleven,” Lamba clarified on Bhatia’s removal from the team.

Whatever the reasons, one thing is certain — the Delhi selectors, after a long time, have mustered the courage to pick up a young side after star batsman Virender Sehwag decided to move over to Haryana.