Punjab Kings (PBKS) left-hander Priyansh Arya received his maiden call-up in Delhi’s Ranji Trophy squad to face Hyderabad in the first round of the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season, which starts on October 15. Arya was picked in a 24-man squad that will be led by Ayush Badoni, which will start their campaign with an away fixture. Yash Dhull will serve as Badoni’s vice-captain. Arya had a standout 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL), where he made 475 runs as an opening batter for PBKS. His runs played a significant role in the franchise's success, as they reached their first IPL final after 11 years, where they lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the final. The southpaw’s IPL returns were the most by an uncapped Indian player in a debut season of the tournament. Rishabh Pant’s name was not included in the squad as he continues to recover from the fractured toe that he sustained during the fourth Test against England at Old Trafford in July. Nitish Rana, who returned to Delhi after spending two seasons with Uttar Pradesh, also made it to the squad. Veteran seamer Ishant Sharma was not included in the squad, which has the likes of Navdeep Saini and Simarjeet Singh as the fast bowling resources. Badoni and Dhull will come into the season on the back of some good form in the Duleep Trophy. The former made 204 playing for North Zone against East Zone in the quarter-final fixture in Bengaluru. The latter also began his red-ball season with a bang, making 133 in the quarter-final to help his side enter the semis. Dhull backed his Duleep Trophy exploits with a 92 in the Irani Cup match for the Rest of India side. Delhi Ranji Trophy squad: Ayush Badoni (captain), Yash Dhull (vice-captain), Anuj Rawat (wk), Arpit Rana, Sanat Sangwan, Sumit Mathur, Shivam Sharma, Rounak Waghela, Navdeep Saini, Simarjeet Singh, Money Grewal, Siddhant Sharma, Dhruv Kaushik, Pranav Rajvanshi, Nitish Rana, Himmat Singh, Ayush Doseja, Rahul Dagar, Hrithik Shokeen, Priyansh Arya, Tejasvi Dahiya (wk), Vaibhav Kandpal, Rohan Rana, Aryan Rana (subject to fitness).
