India's top-order batter Virat Kohli and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant have been named in Delhi's 41-member list of probables for Ranji Trophy 2024-25. Kohli last played Ranji Trophy in 2012 whereas Pant played in the 2017-18 season. The other international players in the Delhi's squad are Navdeep Saini and Harshit Rana.
The release also mentions that "the inclusion of the international players in the final squad is subjectto their availability".
Delhi have two games left in the ongoing tournament. They will take on Saurashtra in their first clash of second leg starting January 23. Their last group stage clash is against Railways starting January 30. If Kohli and Pant decide to play Ranji Trophy, they are likely to play against Saurashtra before joining the ODI squad for three-ODI series against England.
Delhi's squad -
Ayush Badoni, Sanat Sangwan, Gagan vats, Yash Dhull, Anuj Rawat (wk), Jonty Sidhu, Siddhant Sharma, Himmat Singh, Navdeep Saini, Pranav Rajvanshi (wk), Sumit Mathur, Money Grewal, Shivam Sharma, Mayank Gussain, Vaibhav Kandpal, Himanshu Chauhan, Harsh Tyagi, Shivank Vashishth, Prince Yadav, Aayush Singh, Akhil Choudhary, Hrithik Shokeen, Lakshay Thareja (wk), Ayush Doesja, Arpit Rana, Vikas Solanki, Samarth Seth, Rounak Waghela, Anirudh Choudhary, Rahul Gahlot, Bhagwan Singh, Mayank Rawat, Tejasvi Dahiya (wk), Parteek, Rahul Dagar, Aryan Rana, Salil Malhotra, Jitesh Singh, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Harshit Rana
Kohli, Pant and Saini's recent outings
Kohli has been facing criticism for his slump in form in the red-ball format. In the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, he scored a century in the Perth Test before a series of disappointing scores. He scored 190 runs from nine innings at an average of 23.75 and was caught behind the stumps eight times.
Pant was not able to capitalise on good starts for a better part of the series. In the Sydney Test, he scored a blazing half-century. The wicketkeeper-batter scored 255 runs from nine innings at an average of 28.33.
Young pacer Harshit made his Test debut in Perth and claimed four wickets. He remained wicketless in the pink-ball Test at Adelaide Oval and was dropped from the playing XI. Before heading to Australia, he claimed a fifer against Assam. He registered two four-wicket hauls in the Duleep Trophy 2024. Rana is unlikely to feature in the Ranji Trophy clashes as he has been named in the T20I squad for five-T20I series against England.