Delhi veterans a worry for selectors

NEW DELHI: The current Delhi team on paper has to be the strongest in the domestic circuit. Yet, the team has struggled to make serious headway in competitions over the last few years barring a Vijay Hazare trophy win in early 2013.
The problem, according to some senior DDCA officials, remains the performance of these veterans of domestic and international cricket - including the likes of skipper Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Mithun Manhas and Rajat Bhatia.
"There are too many ageing players and they get injured frequently. The team hasn't qualified for the second round of Ranji Trophy for the last four seasons and has managed to sneak into the knockouts of the ongoing Vijay Hazare trophy. It's time younger players are given more chances," said a top DDCA official.
Known to throw young players of international quality over the last decade and a half, no player except Unmukt Chand is in eye of the national selectors. According to officials, IPL contracts of these veteran players come in the way of selecting the team.
"Let the seniors play a few Ranji Trophy games to ensure their IPL contracts but the fresh players from age-group teams should be brought in for limited overs matches," added another official.
Names of off-spinner Shivam Sharma, who impressed playing for Kings XI Punjab in the last IPL, along with Pratyush Singh, Himmat Singh and Nitish Rana are being seen as bright prospects.
As the Delhi selectors sit down to make the squad for the Vijay Hazare knockouts, it will be interesting to see if they opt to follow the trend which is picked up by Karnataka from them. Interestingly, Vinay Kumar, 30, is the oldest player in the side that won three domestic titles last year.