Pant, Ishant, Badoni, Rana among leading picks in Delhi Premier League player draft

Rishabh Pant, Ishant Sharma, Ayush Badoni and Harshit Rana were among the key picks at the player draft of the inaugural Delhi Premier League (DPL) on Friday. The draft featured 270 players from across Delhi including those who played for India's senior and Under-19 teams and the IPL. A notable absentee in the player draft was fast bowler Mayank Yadav, who impressed with his pace for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2024 but was ruled out due to injury.

Purani Dilli 6 picked Pant and Ishant while North Delhi Strikers drafted Rana in and Badoni was the first pick for South Delhi Superstars. Central Delhi Kings drafted in former India Under-19 captain Yash Dhull and legspinner Prince Choudhary.

Rana returned 19 wickets in 13 matches of IPL 2024, representing title-winners Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). He also received his maiden call-up for the ODI series on India's tour of Sri Lanka. Apart from Rana, North Delhi Strikers also selected KKR spinner Suyash Sharma, who was Delhi's leading wicket-taker in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023, as well as Kshitiz Sharma, the allrounder who Chennai Super Kings (CSK) picked in the auction ahead of IPL 2018.

Pant and Ishant aside, Purani Dilli 6 also drafted in offspin-allrounder Lalit Yadav, who played for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2024, batting allrounder Shivam Sharma and right-arm fast bowler Prince Yadav.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) wicketkeeper Anuj Rawat and CSK fast bowler Simarjeet Singh were the first couple of picks for East Delhi Riders. Fast bowler Navdeep Saini and former Mumbai Indians spinner Hrithik Shokeen were the first two picks for West Delhi Lions. Priyansh Arya, who was the leading run-scorer for Delhi in the Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy last year, was drafted by South Delhi Superstars, who also got left-arm fast bowler Kuldip Yadav as their second pick. Kuldip made his IPL debut in 2023 for Rajasthan Royals

Batter Shweta Sehrawat, who was India's vice-captain in the inaugural Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup early last year, was the top pick for South Delhi Superstars while opener Priya Punia, who made her ODI comeback this year in Bangladesh, will play for East Delhi Riders.

Wicketkeeper Laxmi Yadav, who was with UP Warriorz in the Women's Premier League (WPL), was drafted by Central Delhi Queens while hard-hitter Ayushi Soni and seamer Soni Yadav were picked by North Delhi Strikers.

The top four bidders for teams in the men's franchise auction also secured the teams for the women's DPL.

The inaugural DPL will be played from August 17 to September 8, 2024 with all matches at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. The men's competition will consist of 33 games while the women's competition will have seven matches.

South Delhi Superstars: Ayush Badoni, Kuldip Yadav, Priyansh Arya, Sumit Mathur, Divij Mehra, Kunwar Bidhuri, Digvesh Rathi, Tejaswi Dahiya, Raghav Singh, Saurabh Deswal, Sarthak Ray, Lakshay Sehrawat, Tarun Bisht, Shubham Dubey, Vision Panchal, Dhruv Singh, Mayank Gupta, Anshuman Hooda, Anindo Naharay, Deepanshu Gulia

East Delhi Riders: Anuj Rawat, Simarjeet Singh, Himmat Singh, Himanshu Chauhan, Harsh Tyagi, Vaibhav Sharma, Mayank Rawat, Samarth Seth, Pranav Pant, Sujal Singh, Hardik Sharma, Raunak Waghela, Agrim Sharma, Shantanu Yadav, Bhagwan Singh, Ansh Choudhary, Sagar Khatri, Shivam Kumar Tripathi, Rishabh Rana, Lakshaya Sangwan

Central Delhi Kings: Yash Dhull, Prince Choudhary, Hiten Dalal, Jonty Sidhu, Lakshay Thareja, Yogesh Sharma, Money Grewar, Keshav Dabas, Shaurya Malik, Saurav Dagar, Aryan Rana, Siddhant Bansal, Rajneesh Dadar, Sumit Kumar, Kaushal Suman, Deepesh Balyan, Vishant Bhati, Dhruv Kaushik, Ajay Gulia

North Delhi Strikers: Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Pranshu Vijayran, Vaibhav Kandpal, Kshitiz Sharma, Vaibhav Rawal, Yash Dabas, Pranav Rajvanshi, Manan Bhardwaj, Yash Bhatia, Yatish Singh, Aman Bharti, Yajas Sharma, Sarthak Ranjan, Anirudh Choudhary, Shivam, Yatharth Singh, Sidhhartha Solanki, Dhruv Chauhan, Yuvraj Rathi

West Delhi Lions: Hrithik Shokeen, Navdeep Saini, Dev Lakra, Deepak Punia, Shivank Vashisth, Akhil Chaudhary, Ayush Doseja, Krish Yadav, Anmol Sharma, Yugal Saini, Ankit Rajesh Kumar, Vivek Yadav, Aryan Dalal, Masab Alam, Ekansh Dobal, Shivam Gupta, Yogesh Kumar, Suryakant Chauhan, Tishant Dabla, Abrahim Ahmad Masoodi

Purani Dilli 6: Lalit Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Arpit Rana, Shivam Sharma, Prince Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Mayank Gusain, Sanat Sangwan, Ankit Bhadana, Yug Gupta, Keshav Dalal, Ayush Singh, Kush Nagpal, Sumit Chhikara, Arnav Bugga, Vansh Bedi, Manjeet, Yash Bhardawaj, Sambhav Sharma, Laxman

South Delhi Superstars: Shweta Sehrawat, Medhavi Bidhuri, Tanisha Singh, Ekta Bhadana, Manju Godara, Sumiti Soni, Nishika Singh, Nidhi Mahto, Riya Soni, R Priyadarshini, Mitali, Aarti Kumari, Anshu Nagar, Shivani Yadav, Vrinda, Chelcy Yadav, Neha Puri, Chhavi Gupta

East Delhi Riders: Priya Punia, Priya Mishra, Pratika Rawal, Madhu, Mallika Khatri, Pragya Rawat, Kashish, Saachi, Vanshika Lila, Ishika, Nilanchal Nerwal, Priya Gaur, Shivani, Jyoshi Nain, Ashmeet Kaur, Shreya Sharma, Himanshi Rai, Anushka Singh

Central Delhi Queens: Laxmi Yadav, Parunika Sisodia, Mayuri Singh, Ria Sharma, Vandana Chaturvedi, Shivi Sharma, Mahi Chauhan, Deeksha Sharma, Meenakshi Vashishat, Armeet Kaur, Akanshi Singh, Mitali R, Neha Chillar, Sonia, Rishika, Taniska Rana, Aujasvie, Chanchal

North Delhi Strikers: Soni Yadav, Ayushi Soni, Nazma, Bharti Rawal, Riti Tomar, Riya Shokeen, Monika, Antra Sharma, Riya Kondal, Upasana Yadav, Goyinka Sharma, Mansi Sharma, Urvashi Gupta, Reshika Beniwal, Kritika Gaghda, Sonia Lohia, Aashi Saxena, Sonia Khatri