No one knows where Sehwag will bat against J&K
A bespectacled Virender Sehwag looked a bit different when he came to the nets on Wednesday. But once he took his stance, you could sense the same old care-free Viru smashing the ball at will, not bothered about getting beaten a couple of times. While he enjoyed his batting in the nets, the talks on the sidelines veered towards his batting position. A selector said he was selected as one of the three openers in the team. Sehwag, however, had shown reluctance to face the new ball during the Ranji Trophy.
With Indian Premier league (IPl) is around the corner, it would be interesting to see where Sehwag bats against Jammu and Kashmir in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, domestic one-day tournament, opener here on Thursday. It will be a hint as to where he would bat for Kings XI Punjab in the IPl. Gautam Gambhir is a surety as an opener but Sehwag’s decision will decide Unmukt Chand’s position. “We will decide the batting order after having a look at the strip,” chief coach Sanjeev Sharma said after training on Wednesday.
The pitch over which skipper Gambhir had a verbal spat with curator Venkat Sundaram, is likely to be a usual lifeless track. And defending champions Delhi, with a formidable batting line-up, are the one to bet on against J&K. However, the current J&K side is a very improved side in comparison to the ones that Delhi had played previously. Their quarterfinal appearance in this Ranji Trophy season is a testimony to that. The team rallies around skipper Parvez Rasool with the likes of Ian Dev Singh, Bandeep Singh and Adil Rishi perform supporting roles.
In comparison, Delhi have a more all-round side. While Gambhir, Sehwag and Unmukt form a strong top-order, Mithun Manhas, Rajat Bhatia, Milind Kumar and Puneet Bisht make a formidable middle-order. In bowling department, Ashish Nehra, Parvinder Awana and Sumit Narwal will make-up the pace trio and Varun Sood is expected to be the only specialist spinner.