Ishant Sharma recalled by Delhi; Mohammed Shami named in Bengal for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
Veteran pacemen Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami have been named in the Delhi and Bengal squads respectively for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which gets underway on November 14.
Ishant, 38, returns to Delhi's 16-member T20 group after a limited run in the format last season, while 36-year-old Shami is included in Bengal's 19-player roster as he continues to play domestic cricket. Ishant has not appeared in a Ranji Trophy match since February 2024 but featured for Delhi in both the Vijay Hazare Trophy and last season's Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he played three matches and took three wickets. He was part of the Gujarat Titans squad in IPL 2026 after being retained by the franchise following the 2025 auction; he played seven matches for Gujarat in 2025, taking four wickets, but did not play in the 2026 edition.
In Delhi's squad Ishant will join fellow pace options Harshit Rana and Mayank Yadav. Mayank played two matches in India's recent five-match T20I series against New Zealand and returned figures of 3 for 48 in the fourth match. Ayush Badoni will captain Delhi, whose squad also includes Priyansh Arya, Yash Dhull and wicketkeeper Anuj Rawat. Former captain Nitish Rana has been omitted; he led Delhi in the previous edition when the team failed to progress beyond the group stage.
Mohammed Shami has been a regular in Bengal's campaign this season, appearing in three of the first four Ranji Trophy matches and taking 14 wickets. He was not selected for India's recent tour of New Zealand but has remained active in domestic competitions. Bengal's attack will also feature India pacer Mukesh Kumar and all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed.
Abhimanyu Easwaran has been named captain of the Bengal side, which also includes Under-23 captain Shashank Singh; the youngster is set to make his senior debut. The selectors have confirmed Shahbaz Ahmed will be available for Bengal's opening fixture against Karnataka.
Delhi have been drawn in Elite Group B alongside Bihar, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Railways, Saurashtra and Tamil Nadu, while Bengal are in Elite Group A with Karnataka, Chandigarh, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Baroda, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Delhi squad: Ayush Badoni (captain), Priyansh Arya, Sarthak Ranjan, Yash Dhull, Ayush Doseja, Tejasvi (wicketkeeper), Anuj Rawat (wicketkeeper), Himmat Singh, Mayank Rawat, Keshav Dabas, Suyash Sharma, Digvesh, Ishant Sharma, Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav and Simarjeet Singh.
Bengal squad: Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Sudip Gharami, Yuvraj Keswani, Aditya Purohit, Abishek Porel (wk), Shakir Gandhi (wk), Karan Lal, Pradipta Pramanik, Sourav Halder, Prayas Ray Barman, Mohammed Shami, Mukesh Kumar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Kanishk Seth, Sayan Ghosh, Syed Irfan Aftab, Akhilesh Yadav, Rishabh Chaudhary and Shashank Singh.
The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy begins on November 14, with Delhi opening their campaign against Jammu and Kashmir in Indore and Bengal facing Karnataka at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on the same day.
