Yash Dhull sacked as Delhi Ranji team captain in latest setback for DDCA

Delhi cricket team captain Yash Dhull was sacked on Monday following his team’s nine-wicket loss to Puducherry in their Ranji Trophy opener at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Following Dhull’s sacking, right-handed batter Himmat Singh will lead the side and his first assignment will be an away match against Jammu and Kashmir that starts from 12 January.

“Yash is a talented player but is out of form. We wanted him to do well as a batter, that is why we have relieved him of captaincy duties. Himmat is our senior player and has done very well for us. He will captain the side,” DDCA joint secretary Rajan Manchanda was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Devang Gandhi, Delhi head coach, said that relieving of Dhull’s captaincy would help him focus more on his batting. Dhull was dismissed for scores of 2 and 23 against Puducherry.

“It was the selectors’ decision to relieve Yash of the captaincy. To me, Yash is the future of Delhi cricket and Indian cricket. He is seen as a serious prospect. The priority for him is to get back scoring runs again. Anything that can distract him from that should be avoided. Captaincy at this point won’t help him solely focus on batting,” Delhi head coach Devang Gandhi was quoted as saying by Times of India.

Selection dilemmas and controversies are not new to Delhi cricket. Over the past few years, the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) have been embroiled in a series of controversies that has hindered the cricketing body’s reputation.

Past controversies

One of the major controversies surrounding the DDCA was in December 2015, when former cricketer and the then BJP MP Kirti Azad had released a 28-minute video. In the video, Azad accused the DDCA of financial irregularities that also included the board granting contracts to ghost companies.

Azad, the late Bishan Singh Bedi and former cricketer Surinder Khanna had claimed that an investigation by Wikileaks4India had proved that the DDCA had given contracts to fictitious companies. The allegations of the sting operation was that 14 companies that got contracts from DDCA were registered under fake addresses.

Footage of the video that was released was of a DDCA annual general meeting in 2011-12 that showed Kirti Azad questioning the then DDCA chief Arun Jaitley. Jaitley had defended the DDCA office bearers, who were questioned by Kirti Azad.

Another controversy erupted in 2023 when just days after hosting an India-Australia Test match, the DDCA made the headlines for the wrong reasons yet again. A woman had filed a sexual harassment complaint against DDCA president Rohan Jaitley, alleging that the latter “sexually and physically” exploited her after having promised to marry her.

“…it is stated that during the entire relationship, Rohan kept assuring me that he was going to take divorce from his wife and I kept waiting patiently and trusting him. That this act of Mr. Jaitley was very upsetting and emotionally draining,” the woman had written in her complaint letter.

“It is stated that when the situation between me and Rohan worsened due to lack of trust, Rohan took me to DDCA psychologist, misusing his position as DDCA president, for couples therapy so that I stay in his life,” the letter further stated.

In 2018, Gautam Gambhir’s appointment to the DDCA under Rajat Sharma’s tenure as the cricketing board’s president raised a few eyebrows. Gambhir was appointed as a DDCA special invitee to the DDCA Cricket Committee, in order to pick teams for age-group domestic tournaments, that included the Ranji Trophy. Gambhir was still an active cricketer in July 2018, when the appointment was made, and this raised a major conflict of interest issue. Back then, however, Rajat Sharma had said Gambhir was a special invitee so that he could be appraised of problems faced by players.

“He is a special invitee so that the committee not only gets benefit of his immense experience but will also be appraised of the issues and problems faced by players. I have left all cricketing decisions to these credible and renowned players. I am confident they will do what is in the best interest of cricket and no one can influence them,” Rajat had said.

Gambhir had been part of Delhi’s Ranji side during the appointment but would go onto announce retirement from all forms of cricket in December 2018, signing off with a century against Andhra Pradesh in a Group B contest.