Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) has announced the squad for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025, which is scheduled to begin on Wednesday (November 26).
Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) selectors have taken the controversial decision of ignoring star leg spinner Digvesh Rathi for the T20 tournament.
DDCA ignores Digvesh Rathi for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025
Recently, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) showed faith in Digvesh Rathi after his remarkable debut season earlier this year and retained the spinner for the upcoming IPL 2026. Nevertheless, the Delhi selectors felt that Rathi was not needed for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025.
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This step of DDCA surprised many people. Digvesh Rathi has played 15 T20s so far and has taken 17 wickets at an average of 26.35, economy rate of 7.59 and strike rate of 20.8. In IPL 2025, the leg spinner played 13 matches for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and took 14 wickets.
Nitish Rana named Delhi captain for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025
Meanwhile, DDCA has appointed senior batsman Nitish Rana as the captain of Delhi for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025. Rana, who recently moved from Uttar Pradesh, will also play for Delhi Capitals (DC) in IPL 2026 and the move also played a role in him getting the captaincy.
Ayush Badoni, who has been leading the Delhi team in multiple formats, is also part of the SMAT team. Experienced fast bowlers Ishant Sharma and Navdeep Saini have also been named, but their participation depends on fitness, as both are recovering from injuries at the BCCI CoE.
Harshit Rana’s availability is also uncertain, as he is in the squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series and five-match T20I series against South Africa at home. Young talents like Priyansh Arya and leg spinner Suyash Sharma will also be included in the squad for the tournament. Other key players include Simarjeet Singh, Anuj Rawat and Prince Yadav, many of whom have IPL experience.
Digvesh Rathi ignored for SMAT 2025 after controversy with Nitish Rana!!
Notably, Nitish Rana came into the Delhi Premier League 2025 (DPL 2025) in strong form, scoring 134*, 45* and 79* to help West Delhi Lions win the title. The tournament also saw a heated exchange between Rana and Digvesh Rathi and he is no longer a part of the SMAT team.
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Well, the Delhi management and selectors, including Yashpal Singh, K. Bhaskar Pillai, Manu Nair, head coach Sarandeep Singh, CAC president Vijay Dahiya and DDCA secretary Ashok Sharma have backed Rana for the captaincy for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025.
Delhi has been placed in Elite Group D along with Jharkhand, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Saurashtra and Tripura, with all the matches to be held in Ahmedabad. The Delhi team has won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy only once, and that was in 2017-18 under the leadership of Pradeep Sangwan.
The Delhi team for SMAT 2025 is as follows:
Nitish Rana (captain), Arpit Rana, Priyansh Arya, Sarthak Ranjan, Ayush Badoni, Ayush Doseja, Mayank Rawat, Tejashwi, Anuj Rawat, Yash Dhull, Himmat Singh, Rohan Rana, Dhruv Kaushik, Aryan Rana, Vaibhav Khandpal, Simarjeet Singh, Rahul Dagar, Yash Bhatia, Ankit Rajesh Kumar, Harsh Tyagi, Suyyash Sharma, Prince Yadav and Mani Grewal.
subject to availability: Ishant Sharma, Harshit Rana and Navdeep Saini.
Digvesh Rathi is good enough for LSG to retain him, yet somehow not good enough for the Delhi selectors. #crickettwitter https://t.co/8Kt1iuai1V
– Pratyush Raj (@pratyush93_raj) 22 November 2025
