Ishant Sharma picked up his 200th List A wicket on captaincy return after seven years in the Vijay Hazare Trophy quarter-final today (January 13).
Ishant Sharma makes captaincy comeback after seven years
Leading Delhi in their 2025/26 Vijay Hazare Trophy quarter-final against Vidarbha, Ishant opted to field first at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 2 in Bengaluru. He breached opener Atharva Taide’s defence in his second spell of the game to get to the 200-wicket mark in List A cricket.
Taide had given Vidarbha a strong start, scoring 62 off 72 and adding 90 runs for the second wicket with Dhruv Shorey. Delhi made further inroads after breaking a dangerous-looking partnership as Prince Yadav dismissed Shorey just 15 deliveries after Taide’s departure.
Ishant was handed the captaincy after Rishabh Pant, who had been leading Delhi in the ongoing VHT season, joined the India ODI side for the three-match series against New Zealand. The wicketkeeper-batter, however, picked up an injury in training and was ruled out of all three games later.
4th Quarter Final, Delhi vs Vidarbha
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Ayush Badoni, meanwhile, was called up as a replacement for the injured Washington Sundar just a day before the VHT quarter-final, leaving the senior pacer to take over the team’s reins. The last time Ishant captained across formats was in the 2018/19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, when he led Delhi against Uttar Pradesh in March 2019. He had handed the side’s captaincy in seven SMAT matches that season.
Ishant’s captaincy debut across formats, interestingly, came for India back in 2014. He led the side in a practice match on their tour to Australia. With MS Dhoni missing the warm-up game against Cricket Australia XI, the pacer was handed the responsibility, even with the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane in the team, all three of whom later went on to captain India.
In all, Ishant has captained in 17 games across formats, including the ongoing Delhi vs Vidarbha VHT quarter-final, with 10 wins, four defeats and two draws under his belt. As far as his List A record is concerned, he now has 200 wickets in 142 games, including 115 in 80 ODIs.
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