Rishabh Pant, Ishant Sharma, and Harshit Rana Lead the Pack in Inaugural Delhi Premier League Draft

Rishabh Pant, Ishant Sharma, Yash Dhull, Ayush Badoni, Anuj Rawat and Harshit Rana emerged as the key picks of the day at the player draft for the inaugural edition of the Delhi Premier League, held in New Delhi on Friday evening.

Purani Dilli 6 secured the services of Rishabh Pant and Ishant Sharma while the North Delhi Strikers drafted Harshit Rana, and Yash Dhull joined the Central Delhi Kings.

The draft featured 270 cricketers from across Delhi, including India, IPL, National and U19 players.

Purani Dilli 6 gathered a formidable squad built around the explosive gloveman, Rishabh Pant and the experienced Ishant Sharma. The franchise also roped in the services of allrounder, Lalit Yadav, who returns fresh from a stint with the Delhi Capitals and batting allrounder Shivam Sharma.

Purani Dilli 6 also bagged the 20-year-old opening batsmen and off spinner, Arpit Rana and the right-arm pacer, Prince Yadav.

The West Delhi Lions’ first draft pick was the crafty Mumbai Indians’ tweaker Hrithik Shokeen, while the fiery Navdeep Saini was drafted as their next pick. Middle order batsman, Dev Lakra, bowling allrounder Deepak Punia and off spinner Shivank Vashsisth also featured amongst the team’s first five picks.

The North Delhi Strikers prioritized pace bowling, opting for the lethal fast bowler Harshit Rana as their draft pick. Notably, Rana set the most recent edition of the IPL ablaze, scalping 19 wickets in just 13 matches and is currently on his maiden tour with the Indian team.

The Strikers also sought the services of leg spinner Suyash Sharma, who featured in the Kolkata Knight Riders’ recent triumph along with medium-pacer Pranshu Vijayran, former India u19 player, Vaibhav Kandpal, and Kshitiz Sharma.

The Central Delhi Kings began their draft with the addition of the prodigious batsman, and former India u19 skipper, Yash Dhull and the right-handed leg spinner, Prince Choudhary.

Amongst their other commitments were opening batsman, Hiten Dalal, allrounder Jonty Sidhu and wicket-keeper batsman, Lakshay Thareja.

The East Delhi Riders secured the hard-hitting wicketkeeper batsman, Anuj Rawat who has regularly featured for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, while pace bowler Simarjeet Singh was their second Category A acquisition. Himmat Singh was also drafted by the Riders to strengthen their batting unit along with medium pacer Himanshu Chauhan and the slow left arm orthodox bowler in Harsh Tyagi.

For the South Delhi Superstars, their draft began with the acquisition of middle order batsman Ayush Badoni who has been a regular fixture for the Lucknow Super Giants in recent years. Left Arm fast bowler, Kuldip Yadav was the Superstars’ next choice before they bagged the 23-year-old Priyansh Arya and batting all-rounder Sumit Mathur.

The top four bidders in the men's franchise auction also secured the women's teams that will comprise the top female cricketer across the region.

The women’s draft saw ace Indian batting allrounder Shwetha Sehrawat emerge as the South Delhi Superstars’ top pick while top order batter Priya Punia will play for East Delhi Knight Riders. Wicketkeeper Laxmi Yadav was drafted by Central Delhi Queens (Central Delhi Kings) and medium pacer Soni Yadav went to North Delhi Strikers.

The first edition of the Delhi Premier League is set to unfold from 17th August to 8th September 2024, with all matches taking place at Shri Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. The inaugural season of the T20 league will consist of 40 matches, including 33 games in the men's category and 7 in the women's category.