Young left-arm spinner Pawan Negi’s exclusion from the probables list of the Delhi Ranji team for the upcoming season defies logic.
The Delhi Ranji Trophy selection committee, headed by former India cricketer Chetan Chauhan, met in the capital on Friday to name 35 probables for the upcoming season.
Surprisingly, the 19-year-old Negi — who showed promise in the limited opportunities during the last domestic season — was not even considered to be a part of the probables list.
Members of the selection committee aren’t forthcoming on the reasons though.
“It will be better if you ask the chairman. If I was the chairman, it would have been my responsibility to see who was coming into the team or who was going out,” was the reply of Sunil Dev, selector-cum-convenor, when this paper contacted him on Saturday.
However, all attempts to contact Chauhan went in vain as he didn’t respond to calls.
Negi’s moment of reckoning came in an Indian Premier League game against the Rajasthan Royals earlier this year when he returned figures of 4/18, including the prized scalps of Australians Shane Watson and Brad Hodge.
He was named the man of the match for that effort.
Incidentally, it was Delhi Daredevils skipper Virender Sehwag who had convinced Negi to sign up with the franchise after the latter’s stellar show played a crucial role in Delhi’s progress to the knockout stages of the domestic T20 tournament, the Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy, last season.
The all-rounder is also part of the 15-member Daredevils squad that will participate in the Champions League T20 in South Africa next month.