Nanda declared fit for Ranji semis

Nanda had just hit a crunching drive off Pradeep Sangwan’s gentle loosner,Bhatia who was sitting on the sidelines let everybody know at the practice session that his premier spinner was back. A few hits later,the leggie was done proving his fitness,even as Gidwani was seen trudging away from the practice area,with his job ending.

This isn’t the first time that the skipper has thrown his weight behind a player. He had pushed the case for Sumit Narwal’s inclusion for the squad too. Minutes later Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya declared that Nanda was fit for the Mumbai’s game. “Nanda has been declared fit and we’re delighted with the fact that we’ve got all our essential players back for the match,” he said.

Nanda too was delighted. “It went well. I played a match for Mumbai Indians against Reliance in Jamnagar and I was asked to bat during nets,” he told Sportline on Wednesday.

Nanda’s inclusion in the side has its implications for the young left-arm orthodox spinner Vikas Mishra. In his debut year,the seventeen-year-old has taken six wickets in two matches,including a fiver against Tamil Nadu.

Dahiya however refused to rule out Mishra’s inclusion in the playing eleven for the semis at the CCI in Mumbai beginning January 3.

“It all depends on the track. You never know,we may play both Nanda and Mishra in the match,” he added. Apart from the young duo,Dahiya was delighted with the way both Aditya Jain and Gaurav Chhabra have performed in the middle,when many of the big names were missing from the ranks.

‘Chhabra,Jain have done well’
Delhi has missed many of its key players to injuries or international duty. Shikhar Dhawan,Nanda,Aakash Chopra,Mithun Manhas,Ishant Sharma,Virat Kohli,had to be replaced at one point or the other during the course of this season.

“More than the emergence of the youngsters,I’m happy for Aditya and Gaurav. They have been with the team for some time now and there is always this question mark over them for want of performances. DDCA have invested in them from their junior days and they have backed it up with runs in the absence of our main players.”