Movement inside the Delhi District Cricket Association’s (DDCA) Ranji Trophy dressing room could easily be mistaken for a public transport bus plying the capital.Leading the Delhi team can rank among the most nerve-wracking experiences, as the feeling inside the camp increasingly mirrors a smog-filled North Indian winter over an entire domestic season. By the time the semester ends, even the captain and coach may have likely lost track of their personnel, engaged in a constant, mind-bending flux.Over two years now, the number of captains (three) has outrun the wins (two). First-Class caps have moved like hotcakes. Of them, only Sanat Sangwan and Ayush Doseja — the second and third-highest run-getters last season — have held onto their spots in the lineup.Inconsistency and constant playing XI shuffles have gone hand in hand, year after year, with the first playing XI of a season looking nothing like the one at the end of the league stage in January.Also Read | 98 sixes in 918 balls: How India-WI became fastest-scoring T20I series everSince the start of the 2024-25 season, Delhi have won only two out of their 15 matches across three editions of the tournament, the latest blip being a nine-wicket thrashing against Bengal last week in Kalyani.27 players were fielded in seven league-stage matches last season, when Delhi finished without a single outright win in Group D. 27 players had turned up in the 2024-25 season, too. A stretch of seven games with two wins then culminated before a raucous Kotla crowd, which celebrated Virat Kohli’s return in what turned out to be his final First-Class match.Among the 40 players who have been whirling steadily in this period, 15 men made their First-Class debuts since October 2024. Barring batters Sangwan, Dosega and seamer Money Grewal, none of the other debutants received more than two matches.Story continues below this adAlso Read | Pithiya wants to shed ‘duplicate Ashwin’ tag: ‘After him, if there’s anyone, it’s me’Seam-bowling all-rounder Dev Lakra joined the assembly line during Delhi’s season opener in Kalyani last week. If the pattern holds, scores of 18 and 13 and a wicketless stint against a stacked Bengal batting may not bode well for the youngster. Nevertheless, there are spots to be had and earned in the Delhi side that last lifted the title a decade ago.“We do need a turnaround in red-ball cricket, and the players need to understand what the format requires. It’s a team game played by individuals, and those individuals need to stand up and make it count,” Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya told PTI last week.“It’s one thing to have a plan, but the person responsible for executing it must believe in it. If the players aren’t invested in the plan, it won’t work,” he added.Even comforts of a home setting have rarely translated into something meaningful in recent editions. Ayush Badoni’s men will also be denied the familiarity of the Kotla grounds, undergoing renovation, for the remainder of the season. Returning for his third coaching stint with Delhi, Dahiya will hope a fresh venue can usher a shift in fortunes.Story continues below this adAlso Read | Zero sugar, zero gluten, zero lactose – what fuelled Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s returnThe ‘B’ ground at the Air Force Ground in Palam will mark its First-Class debut when Delhi is pitted against Gujarat starting Sunday.The match will be shaped up by contrasting edges, with the hosts, smarting from a dreadful start across departments, taking on a high-flying Gujarat who earned a 10-wicket win over Odisha in Ahmedabad.Skipper Badoni’s ability to shoulder the burden of a fluctuating Delhi side and his own returns with bat and ball was the solitary silver lining in the opening round. When his frontline bowlers failed to snip through the batting, Badoni turned up with his second First-Class five-wicket haul. When the batting succumbed to pacers Mohammad Shami, Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar in the first innings and crashed before a modest spin trio in the second, Badoni’s 85 stood between Bengal and an innings defeat.Badoni’s resolve will command sustained support from the rest of the top order, including Sangwan, Doseja and former captain Yash Dhull, who has endured a quiet start to the red-ball season with three single-digit scores in four innings.Story continues below this adGujarat have assembled a band of match-winners, led by left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai. The 27-year-old registered his 16th five-wicket haul to power a bonus-point win over Odisha. His 7/90 match figures also made him Gujarat’s most successful spinner ever with 232 scalps in 48 appearances.Also Read | Anshul Kamboj, Auqib Nabi going to be in India’s ODI mix a lot: Shubman GillHoarding 600 wickets between them, captain Chintan Gaja, Arzan Nagwaswalla and Harshal Patel also make a formidable seam attack that can probe any fledgling unit.Should Delhi remain mired in the selection musical chairs, the bus for the knockouts will likely have deserted them by Wednesday, just a fortnight into another Ranji season.