Ishant Sharma will return as Delhi captain for their sixth-round clash against Maharashtra at the Palam A Ground, starting Friday. Ishant had been named in the Indian Test squad for their series against Sri Lanka. However, he did not make the XI for the first Test at the Eden Gardens, with Bhvneshwar Kumar joining regulars Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav. He was subsequently released to join his state team.
Ishant had missed Delhi’s match against Karnataka in Alur, with the Indian team management requiring all fast bowlers to rest. In his absence, 20-year old Rishabh Pant took over as captain. Delhi drew the match, but conceded the first-innings lead after crumbling against Abhimanyu Mithun’s pace on the fourth morning. Delhi are currently second on the Group A table, behind Karnataka on 17 points. Ishant will rejoin the Test squad ahead of the second match in Nagpur.
TN hit by Karthik’s absence
Tamil Nadu will go into a must-win game against Madhya Pradesh in Indore on Friday without wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik, who has been ruled out due to a hip strain. Karthik is currently undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, but is expected to be fit for Tamil Nadu’s last league match, against Baroda beginning from November 25.
Karthik’s international committments – he played three ODIs against New Zealand – have meant that he has been able to play only one match for TN in the season so far. While he managed only 5 in hislone game against Tripura, he was in good form against New Zealand in the ODI series, with scores of 37, 64* and 4*.
With only two league matches left, Tamil Nadu need to beat both Madhya Pradesh and Baroda to have a chance of progressing to the knockouts. The outcome of their previous match, where they dropped first-innings points against Odisha despite a score of 530 for 8, hasn’t helped. Tamil Nadu are currently on eight points and are fourth in Group C behind Andhra, Madhya Pradesh and Mumbai.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo