Chetan Chauhan to coach Delhi

Chetan Chauhan, the former Indian opener, has been appointed as coach for Delhi. He will take over from Madan Lal before the start of the new season.

It comes as a timely boost for Delhi, who have failed to enter the semi-finals in the last three seasons. One of the traditional power-houses, with six Ranji Trophy titles to boot, Delhi have hardly been a threat in the last few years owing to several off-field activities hampering their progress.

"It's a great responsibility," Chauhan told The Indian Express. "We have got some great players and some good talent, the idea is to bring out the best out of the lot to justify their potential. My main aim would be to keep the flock together and not allow the team to be affected by club politics."

Chauhan, who is the vice president of the Delhi and District Cricket Assocoiation (DDCA) and has previously served as national selector, will be assisted by Rajeev Vinayak, the former Delhi wicketkeeper. Since Chauhan is an office bearer with the DDCA, a special approval must be passed by the executive committee before his contract fees can be decided.

The association is also set to have a new selection committee with Atul Wassan, the former Indian fast bowler, as the chairman of selectors. Nikhil Chopra, Vinay Lamba and Rajkumar Sharma will form the senior selection committee.

Wassan said he was glad to have people he could connect well with in the selection committee for that would give him leverage to carry out his duties effectively. "Personally, I was pained at the way selections were made and what transpired in the last couple of seasons," said Wassan. "It always left a bitter taste in the mouth and why I wanted to come in was to try and make an effort to improve Delhi cricket."

The DDCA also released the list of coaches and selectors for the junior teams.

Ranji: Atul Wassan (chairman), Nikhil Chopra, Vinay Lamba, Rajkumar Sharma, Sunil Dev (convenor). Chetan Chauhan (coach), Rajeev Vinayak (assistant coach), DS Bawa (manager)

Under-22: Suresh Luthra (chairman), Rakesh Shukla, Kartar Nath, Manu Nayyar, Vineet Kumar. Hitesh Sharma (coach), Vinod Katyal (manager)

U-19: Sunil Dev (chairman and convenor), Arun Khurana, Sanjay Sharma, Sunil Aggarwal, Sanjeev Sharma, Mahesh Bhatti (coach).

U-17: Sunil Dev (chairman and convenor), Pradeep Kashyap, Pawan Sharma, Swaran Singh, Sanjeev Sharma, Ajit Chaudhary (coach), Umesh Sharma (manager)

U-15: Sunil Dev (chairman and convenor), Neeraj Gautam, SS Khurana, Sunil Madan, Ashok Malhotra, Ajay Varma (coach), Davinder Bisht (manager)

U-13: Sunil Dev (chairman and convenor), Suresh Batra, Mahesh Sharma, Suman Bisht, BS Joban, Virender Bhatnagar (coach), Jayaprakash (manager)