New Delhi, Jan 8: Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) leader Pappu Yadav’s son Sarthak Ranjan has made it into the 15-member Delhi T20 squad for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2018. It should be noted that the former Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) politician’s son didn’t play a single match this season.

The 21-year-old was also a controversial pick for Delhi during the last season when he was dismissed cheaply for five, three and two runs in three games he played.

Talking about the decision to select Ranjan in the squad, Delhi chairman of selectors Atul Wassan ruled out any political influence in the selection. “There are other players too who didn’t play in the past but performed well when selected. We’ve picked new talent to give them a chance. This isn’t a step taken under any political influence”, he told ANI.

Meanwhile, wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has been sacked from the post of captain after having led the side to the finals of the Ranji Trophy only a week before.

Pradeep Sangwan, who last appeared in a competitive match in May for Gujarat Lions in the Indian Premier League (IPL), will take over the mantle of captain. Sangwan has played a total of 77 T20 matches in his career, having scalped 71 wickets at an economy rate of unflattering 7.68.

While experienced players Unmukt Chand, Manan Sharma and Milind Kumar have been left out of the team, under-23 top-scorer Hiten Dalal has been kept in the reserves.

The Delhi T20s squad is as follows: Pradeep Sangwan (c), Gautam Gambhir, Nitish Rana, Sarthak Ranjan, Dhruv Shorey, Lalit Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Himmat Singh, Navdeep Saini, Pawan Negi, Kulwant Khejroliya, Khistij Sharma, Tejas Barokha, Subodh Bhati, Gaurav Kumar.