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Delhi's wicketkeeper-batter Anuj Rawat has found himself in hot waters after he joined Gujarat Titans' (GT) training session in Surat and skipped the state team's ojngoing camp for the second round of Ranji Trophy 2024-25 at Arun Jaitley Stadium. Rawat took the big decision more than a week ahead of Delhi's next Ranji Trophy clash against Saurashtra.
Last year, senior players Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer faced the brunt of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for skipping Ranji Trophy matches of their respective teams. Both Kishan and Iyer lost out on the central contracts despite the latter being available for most of Mumbai's matches when he was not on international duty.
"Gujarat Titans have commenced their preparations for the IPL 2025 with a training camp in Surat. Players like Anuj Rawat, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Kumar Kushagra, Mahipal Lomror and Arshad Khan have joined the team in the camp along with the coaches and support staff," Gujarat Titans said in a statement.
The DDCA secretary Ashok Sharma said that Rawat did not seek permission to join the IPL 2022 winners' pre-season camp. He also pointed out that pacer Ishant Sharma can join the IPL camp as he has informed them that he does not want to play red-ball cricket anymore since he is not in contention to make a comeback to the Indian Test team.
"I have no knowledge that Anuj has skipped the ongoing Ranji Trophy camp to attend the IPL team's camp. Ideally, he needs to take permission from the state association. We have two Ranji games left and the camp is on at the Kotla. I don't know who gave him the permission to skip the Ranji Trophy camp," Sharma told PTI.
"Ishant's case is different as he doesn't need DDCA's permission since he doesn't play Ranji Trophy."
No written request from Rawat
Sharma made it clear that it is not that players aren't allowed to train with their respective IPL franchises. However, they have to seek permission from the president or the secretary.
"We have received a few official e-mail requests from certain players asking for permission to join their respective IPL camps but I can confirm that we have received no written request from Anuj Rawat. In that case, he shouldn't have joined the IPL camp," a senior DDCA official said.
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Rawat's recent form
Rawat has previously represented Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) as well. The 25-year-old scored three fifties from four innings in Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25. The left-handed batter has played three first-class games and managed to score 97 runs from four innings including a half-century.
In the IPL 2025 mega auction, he was picked for his base price of Rs 30 lakh. The batter who made his IPL debut for RR in 2021 has played three seasons for RCB. From 24 IPL appearances, he has scored 318 runs at an average of 19.87 including a half-century. The last time he scored a half-century was in the 2022 season.
