New opening in Middle order

The chasing side were 7/2 in the third over,and Sehwag walked out to bat only 15 deliveries after the start of the innings. He may have come in at two-drop,but there was nothing unfamiliar about the way he started.

The first ball he faced,Sehwag cracked a cover drive off Bhuvneshwar Kumar,who had picked up both the wickets to fall. The cover fielder,despite getting a hand on to ball,could not stop it from reaching the fence. Predictably,the crowd erupted.

It may have been the fact that the total Delhi was chasing was on the bigger side or that he felt the best way to get back into the groove was to play in his usual aggressive manner,but Sehwag gave the crowd several more opportunities to roar,in the 10 or so overs that he spent in the middle.

Sehwag smashed nine fours and a six in his 38-ball 59,with Blues skipper Vinay Kumar alone conceding four of the batsmans 10 boundaries. Vinay Kumar was forced to juggle,with four different bowlers in use within the window of Sehwags brief knock.

By the time he fell in the 13th over to the left arm spin of Iresh Saxena he smashed one straight back to the bowler right after hitting him for a boundary he may not have done enough to take Delhi to the win,but he had certainly set up the chase. When he had walked in Delhi had scored at less than three runs an over and had lost two wickets. When he left,Delhi were scoring close to 6.5 runs an over,almost a run and a half more than was necessary at that stage.

One small Step

The competition for middle order slots in the Indian team is intense and there arent too many boundary opportunities in the middle overs. But then,the ball is also not moving around too much in the middle overs,something that would give Sehwag comfort. Thursdays knock was too brief to give the spectators any idea of how and whether Sehwag can find the balance,but it was a step in the right direction nevertheless.

Fitness scare for Yuvraj,sits out opener

Indore: India Blue were set back even before their NKP Salve Challenger Trophy game against Delhi got underway with captain Yuvraj Singh pulling a muscle in his back during the warm-up and having to sit out. In his absence Vinay Kumar was handed over the team command.

The signs were there even on Wednesday,with Yuvraj avoiding any rigorous physical training. After the net session got over,the 32 year-old,who is eyeing a comeback to Team India for the Australia series,was seen spending time with the team physio. But during the press conference later in the evening,Yuvraj hinted that he could play the opener. I have really good memories of the Challenger Trophy. I hope I keep making runs and soon carve my way back into the India team, he had said. There were serious questions over Yuvrajs fitness after his comeback from cancer and the southpaw had gone for a six-week rigorous fitness training program in France. The hard work seemed to have paid off,with a visibly fitter Yuvraj smashed 276 runs against West Indies A in three unofficial one-dayers and the lone T20 game.

Sibsankar Roy was named as his replacement against Delhi,but made just five runs. After the match got over,Yuvraj made an effort to come and bat for sometime at the nets.

Express News Service