Ishant Sharma included as Ayush Badoni's Delhi open against Jammu and Kashmir in Indore

Delhi begin their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign against Jammu and Kashmir at the Holkar Cricket Stadium on Saturday afternoon, with Ishant Sharma named in the squad and Nitish Rana left out of it

The match is the sixth of the 19th Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and starts at 4.30pm IST. It opens Delhi's Elite Group B programme, which runs entirely in Indore between 14 and 26 November.

Delhi are led by Ayush Badoni, with Priyansh Arya as his deputy. The Delhi and District Cricket Association named a 16-man squad on 6 November, picked at a senior selection committee meeting chaired by K Bhaskar Pillai and attended by the chief coach, Vijay Dahiya.

Jammu and Kashmir, whose 15-man squad was announced by the state association on 7 November, are captained by the opener Shubham Khajuria and carry the fast bowler Umran Malik.

Ishant anchors a young pace attack

Delhi's seam group is built around Ishant Sharma, who has played more than 100 Tests and has gone on turning out for his state in domestic white-ball cricket.

Around him are three quicker, less experienced bowlers in Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav and Simarjeet Singh, with Suyash Sharma and Digvesh Rathi the frontline spinners.

Telangana Today reported that Harshit Rana may be restricted to a single appearance in the group stage as he tests his fitness after a period of rehabilitation.

Nitish Rana left out

The clearest talking point of the announcement was the omission of Nitish Rana, a left-hander with 5,347 runs in more than 200 T20 matches at an average of 28.44.

His recent returns have been thinner. Rana made 225 runs in 10 matches at 25.00 in IPL 2026, and 13 runs across four matches at the Hong Kong Sixes.

That came despite a productive previous Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Delhi, in which he scored 274 runs at a strike rate of 148.91 with two half-centuries.

Badoni takes charge after a heavy Ranji return

Badoni arrives in Indore in form. The batting all-rounder finished the first phase of the Ranji Trophy as the second-highest run-scorer, with 559 runs in four matches.

He leads a batting order that also holds Priyansh Arya, Sarthak Ranjan, Yash Dhull, Ayush Doseja and Himmat Singh, with Tejasvi and Anuj Rawat the two wicketkeepers named.

Khajuria's Jammu and Kashmir open a fortnight in Indore

Jammu and Kashmir play all seven of their group matches at the same venue, starting with Delhi and following with Tamil Nadu on 16 November, Saurashtra on 18 November and Bihar on 20 November.

Punjab, Railways and Haryana complete their schedule on 22, 24 and 26 November.

Alongside Khajuria and Umran Malik, the squad includes Abdul Samad, Brijesh Sharma, Yudhvir Singh, Abid Mushtaq, Qamran Iqbal and the wicketkeepers Dikshant Kundal and Rydham Sharma.

Group B is a demanding draw: Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Punjab have all won the competition before.

How the tournament is laid out

Thirty-eight teams are taking part, 32 of them in the Elite section and six in the Plate group. The Elite teams are split into four groups of eight, each playing the others once.

The group stage runs to 26 November. The eight qualifiers then form two Super League groups of four, playing three matches each between 30 November and 4 December, with the winner of each group reaching the final on 6 December.

Jharkhand are the defending champions, having beaten Haryana in last season's final at the MCA Stadium in Pune. Mizoram won the Plate group.

Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi begin at 4.30pm IST at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, with Ajitesh Argal and Akshay Totre umpiring and Youraj Singh the match referee.