Rishabh Pant, Ishant Sharma, Yash Dhull, Ayush Badoni, Anuj Rawat and Harshit Rana emerged as the key picks of the day at the player draft for the inaugural edition of the Delhi Premier League, held in New Delhi on Friday. Purani Dilli 6 secured the services of Pant and Ishant while the North Delhi Strikers drafted Harshit, and Dhull joined the Central Delhi Kings, as per a press release from DPL. The draft featured 270 cricketers from across Delhi, including India, IPL, National and U19 players.

Purani Dilli 6 gathered a formidable squad built around the explosive gloveman, Pant and the experienced Ishant Sharma. The franchise also roped in the services of all-rounder Lalit Yadav, who returns fresh from a stint with the Delhi Capitals and batting all-rounder Shivam Sharma.

Purani Dilli 6 also bagged the 20-year-old opening batsman and off-spinner, Arpit Rana and the right-arm pacer, Prince Yadav.

The West Delhi Lions’ first draft pick was the crafty Mumbai Indians’ tweaker Hrithik Shokeen, while the fiery Navdeep Saini was drafted as their next pick. Middle-order batsman, Dev Lakra, bowling allrounder Deepak Punia and off spinner Shivank Vashsisth also featured among the team’s first five picks.

The North Delhi Strikers prioritised pace bowling, opting for the lethal fast bowler Harshit Rana as their draft pick. Notably, Rana set the most recent edition of the IPL ablaze, scalping 19 wickets in just 13 matches with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and is currently on his maiden tour with the Indian team.

The Strikers also sought the services of leg spinner Suyash Sharma, who featured in the Kolkata Knight Riders’ recent triumph along with medium-pacer Pranshu Vijayran, former India U19 player, Vaibhav Kandpal, and Kshitiz Sharma.

The Central Delhi Kings began their draft with the addition of the prodigious batsman, and former India U-19 skipper, Yash Dhull and the right-handed leg spinner, Prince Choudhary.

Among their other commitments were opening batsman, Hiten Dalal, all-rounder Jonty Sidhu and wicketkeeper-batsman Lakshay Thareja.

The East Delhi Riders secured the hard-hitting wicketkeeper batsman, Anuj Rawat who has regularly featured for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), while pace bowler Simarjeet Singh was their second Category A acquisition. Himmat Singh was also drafted by the Riders to strengthen their batting unit along with medium pacer Himanshu Chauhan and the slow left arm orthodox bowler in Harsh Tyagi.

For the South Delhi Superstars, their draft began with the acquisition of middle-order batsman Ayush Badoni who has been a regular fixture for the Lucknow Super Giants in recent years. Left-arm fast bowler, Kuldip Yadav was the Superstars’ next choice before they bagged 23-year-old Priyansh Arya and batting all-rounder Sumit Mathur.

The top four bidders in the men’s franchise auction also secured the women’s teams, which will comprise the top female cricketers across the region.

The women’s draft saw ace Indian batting allrounder Shwetha Sehrawat emerge as the South Delhi Superstars’ top pick while top order batter Priya Punia will play for the East Delhi Knight Riders. Wicketkeeper Laxmi Yadav was drafted by the Central Delhi Queens (Central Delhi Kings) and medium pacer Soni Yadav went to the North Delhi Strikers.

The first edition of the Delhi Premier League is set to unfold from August 17 to September 8 2024, with all matches taking place at Shri Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. The inaugural season of the T20 league will consist of 40 matches, including 33 games in the men’s category and 7 in the women’s category.

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