Veteran Gautam Gambhir has stepped down as the captain of Delhi Ranji side saying a younger player should be groomed for the leadership role.
The Delhi squad for the first match scheduled on November 12, at the Feroz Shah Kotla will be named later on Monday.
In April, he stepped down as the captain of Delhi Daredevils franchise following his team's poor performance during the 2018 season of Indian Premier League. Shreyas Iyer was announced as the new skipper.
"Gautam has intimated state team's chief selector Amit Bhandari that he would like to opt out of captaincy. He has suggested that someone younger be groomed for the job," a senior office-bearer of the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) told PTI.
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Gambhir took to Twitter to convey the same message, "Time to pass the captaincy baton to youngsters, hence have requested the DDCA selectors not to consider me for that role. I will be in the background helping the new leader to win games."
Later, the DDCA named Nitish Rana as Delhi's new captain. The 24-year-old Rana is a middle-order batsman, who has an average of 46.29 in 24 first-class appearances so far. The 26-year-old Shorey has 21 first-class matches to his credit and is a top-order batsman.
Gambhir was reinstated as captain at the start of the season and led Delhi to the Vijay Hazare finals and scored close to 500 runs in the National One-Day tournament.
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It is learnt that Gambhir, who is now 37, decided against continuing at the helm as it is still not clear whether he will play all the four-day games this season.
Gambhir's decision to opt out of captaincy is also an indicator that he might not continue playing competitive cricket for a very long time.
However, with no Shikhar Dhawan or Rishabh Pant, Gambhir's experience will certainly be required.
Gambhir, however, had a slump in form during the IPL and his return to Delhi Daredevils' fold ended in a nightmare.
The senior opener stepped down from captaincy and also didn't take part after the first six games of the cash-rich league.
Of late, Gambhir has been active on social media on various issues ranging from politics to cricket.
(PTI)
