Few cricketers who stood out in the recent selection match of IPL team Delhi Capitals

On January 4 at Dadoji Konddev Stadium in Thane, the semi-finalists of IPL 2021, Delhi Capitals conducted selection trials under the able aegis of former India wicket-keeper bat Saba Karim. Around 50 players were invited for the selection trials and they were judged based on their performances in the match simulations.

Out of the invited players, three players were very impressive. They were Jitesh Sharma, Mukesh Kumar and Pradeep Sahu. Jitesh Sharma is a right hand top order bat and wicket-keeper, who represents Vidarbha at the domestic level. The 28-year old is known to be a hard hitting batter. In the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he muscled 214 runs in seven innings, including two half centuries and had a strike rate of 235.16, which was the fifth highest in the tournament. He also smashed 18 sixes, which was the highest in the competition. During the selection trials, he showed his class with a quickfire 59 off just 30 balls. Sharma was earlier signed by Mumbai Indians in 2016.

Mukesh Kumar was the other player who caught the eye of selectors. The 28-year old right arm speedster from Bengal is a good seam bowler. He had a decent outing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as he scalped eight wickets in six matches. During the match simulation, he accounted for 2-30 in his four overs. He bowled in tight lines and lengths, asking questions to the batters.

Apart from Sharma and Kumar, Pardeep Sahu had a good day during the selection trials. The wily leg spinner from Haryana wrecked havoc with 5-17 in his three overs. The 36-year old has been a part of Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) and Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. In 2019, he traveled with the Australian team as a part of the support staff to offer his services to the Australian batters, which helped them play against Indian wrist spinners like Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal.  

In addition to Sharma, Kumar and Sahu, other players like Atharva Taide, Mayank Rawat and Tilak Raj made their marks during the selection trials.  Taide is a 21-year old left handed batter from Vidarbha. The southpaw was impressive in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (270 runs in 7 innings) and Vijay Hazare Trophy (345 runs in 7 innings). Mayank Rawat, 22, from Delhi is another talented right hand batter. He represented India U19 in 2017 during England U19’s tour of India. Tilak Raj is also a batter who has the potential to make it big in the near future.