SMAT 2025: Nitish Rana named Delhi captain, no place for Digvesh Rathi

Published - 22 Nov 2025, 17:40 IST | Updated - 22 Nov 2025, 18:05 IST

The Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) announced a 26-man squad for the upcoming edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Nitish Rana has been named as captain, replacing Ayush Badoni, who will play as a specialist batter.

While 26 players have been named, the fast-bowling trio of Ishant Sharma, Harshit Rana, and Navdeep Saini will be in action subject to their availability. On the other hand, youngsters Ankit Rajesh Kumar and Yash Bhatia have been picked in the squad after their impressive performances at the U-23 level.

One of the most notable absentees from the squad is Digvesh Rathi, who had a breakthrough season during the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) earlier this year. He outperformed the experienced Ravi Bishnoi, picking up 14 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 30.64 and an economy rate of 8.25. However, the squad also features other IPL stars like Suyash Sharma, Simarjeet Singh, Anuj Rawat, and Prince Yadav.

Delhi are placed in Elite Group D in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and will play all of their matches in Ahmedabad. Uttarakhand, Tripura, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Saurashtra, and Tamil Nadu are the other teams in the group. Rana and Co. will start their campaign with a clash against Jharkhand.

Delhi recently drew a match against Rajasthan in the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy at the Madan Paliwal Miraj Sports Centre. They find themselves at No. 6 in the group, with eight points from five matches. They are yet to win an encounter in the country's premier domestic red-ball competition.

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Delhi squad for SMAT 2025: Nitish Rana (C), Arpit Rana, Priyansh Arya, Sarthak Ranjan, Ayush Badoni, Ayush Doseja, Mayank Rawat, Tejasvi, Anuj Rawat, Yash Dhull, Himmat Singh, Simarjeet Singh, Rahul Dagar, Yash Bhatia, Ankit Rajesh Kumar, Harsh Tyagi, Suyash Sharma, Prince Yadav, Money Grewal, Rohan Rana, Dhruv Kaushik, Aryan Rana, Vaibhav Khandpal.

Subject to availability: Ishant Sharma, Harshit Rana, Navdeep Saini.