Ranji Trophy: Ankle injury rules out Ishant Sharma for Delhi`s semifinal against Bengal

The Delhi captain reportedly sustained an ankle niggle during the final Test against Sri Lanka in the capital earlier this month and doesn`t want to risk himself before the Test tour of South Africa.

New Delhi: Delhi will miss the services of their regular skipper Ishant Sharma in the coming Ranji Trophy semifinal against Bengal in Pune, starting December 17. Ishant reportedly sustained an ankle niggle during the final Test against Sri Lanka in the capital earlier this month.

With Test regulars Mohammed Shami and Wriddhiman Saha playing for Bengal, Delhi would have loved to get the services of their skipper who has taken 20 wickets in four matches this season.

"Ishant has a slight ankle niggle and he would not like to aggravate his injury before the South Africa series. The Delhi team reached Pune this evening without Ishant," a member of the Delhi team management said.

The BCCI has allowed all the Test regulars, whose teams have qualified for the semifinals, to play for their respective states in order to get match time. The Indian team is not playing any practice game in South Africa, so national selectors wanted Test regulars to play the Ranji semifinals.

KL Rahul will not be available for Karnataka as he is in India's T20 squad, along with Manish Pandey, to take on Sri Lanka. For Delhi, Rishabh Pant will be leading the side in Ishant's absence, while Navdeep Saini will lead the bowling attack alongside Vikas Tokas. Akash Sudan will be the back-up pacer for Delhi.