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Journalism of Courage
When Virender Sehwag gets going everything else around him seems unimportant for a while. For the 30 overs Sehwag was at the crease, Rajasthan players would have felt a sense of helplessness creep into their cricket.
By stumps on Day Two, Delhi had Sehwag and Unmukt Chand to thank for the 60-run lead. Bad light delayed the start and play was possible only after lunch. This match may be decided on first-innings lead, given that the next two days too could be weather-curtailed, and hence Sehwag’s innings which came at a strike rate of just over 71 bought Delhi valuable time.
Delhi had bowled out Rajasthan for 141 but their reply had proceeded only as much as 10 for 1 at stumps on Day One. Rajasthan, given the conditions, were not out of the game.
An early wicket is what the visitors required. They scalped one when left-arm pacer Aniket Choudhary dismissed Varun Sood in the fifth over of the day. Chand was still batting because he had been lucky. Like it had occurred on the previous day, Chand edged between the slip cordon off the first ball of the day from Choudhary.
Sehwag played and missed initially but the width on offer from medium-pacer Shailender Gehlot eased the pressure imposed by Choudhary and Deepak Chahar.
Chahar had hit Sehwag’s pads a couple of times but Gehlot ran in hard and sprayed the ball wide. Sehwag failed to pierce covers on a couple of occasions but found the gap soon to break the shackles. Gehlot then reacted by bowling short and Sehwag cut to the boundary. Viru didn’t waste the width on offer and Gehlot should’ve known that allowing him to free his arms was trouble.
Confidence building
Chand slowly gained confidence and started middling the ball. But it was obvious from the start of this stand that Chand was prepared to play second fiddle to the senior batsman. Chand reached the half-century mark first, in the 34th over – an edge through the slips giving him the two runs required to reach this minor milestone.
Sehwag, as is his wont, stepped down and hit Gehlot back over his head to bring up the half-century.
As Delhi reached 150, ensuring a nine-run lead, Sehwag picked the wrong length and mistimed his pull to midwicket when on 64 (off 90 balls). Gehlot was ecstatic to have broken the then 128-run partnership and Rajasthan had reason to believe they had a foothold in this match. But like Sehwag, new man Mithun Manhas too played according to the situation.
If Delhi plan to bag maximum points, their strategy will be to make as many runs as possible quickly and have enough time on hand to bowl out Rajasthan. They already have the first innings lead and three points that come with it.
Brief Scores: Delhi 201/3 (U Chand batting 87, V Sehwag 64, M Manhas batting 34) vs Rajasthan 141
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