Virender Sehwag is just a shadow of his past self now. The spectacles seem to have disturbed the famous hand-eye coordination he once was known for. The uninhibited swing of the bat and his disdain for the ball is still there to admire but the timing ditches him. His 64-run knock on Monday was full of mistimed shots but the ones that did connect evoked memories of the past.
It wasn’t a flawless innings as the bowlers troubled Sehwag throughout his 90-ball stay in the middle. That there was ample assistance for the bowlers from the pitch and the weather made it an important innings for Delhi, who are looking to take maximum points from the game.
Sehwag’s third wicket partnership of 128 runs with Unmukt Chand, who is unbeaten on 87, earned the hosts a crucial 60-run lead in the first innings as Delhi posted 201 for 3 on the second day of their Ranji Trophy match against Rajasthan at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium.
For the second consecutive day, poor light robbed the day’s game of a good number of overs — 38 on Monday — as the morning session was completely lost to the fog. Upon resumption, Delhi lost night-watchman Varun Sood in the sixth over of the day with the addition of just 12 runs. It brought Sehwag and Unmukt together and they batted for the next 30 overs with a mix of caution and aggression.
Initially, Sehwag looked a bit tentative, throwing his bat at every other ball and fishing outside the off-stump. A few edges flew past slips too but after spending a few overs at the crease, his batting started to look more and more compact and the shots that were betraying him at the start began to flow smoothly. Habits die hard, as they say, and Sehwag isn’t one to let anyone dictate the terms. living up to his name, he completed his half-century with a six over the bowler’s head.
Amidst all this, Unmukt quietly built his innings playing second fiddle to his senior partner. In fact, Sehwag’s presence at the other end helped the former India U-19 captain. Sehwag’s aggression, as it used to do for his Indian team partners, eased the pressure on Unmukt. To his credit, Unmukt also batted well and never seemed bothered by the movement of the ball.
Sehwag’s innings finally came to an end when he tried to pull a short-pitched delivery over mid-wicket.
His departure didn’t affect the scoring rate as Mithun Manhas immediately took over the role of the aggressor and briskly scored 34 runs. As weather is expected to be foggy for the next couple of days, Delhi look to play the morning session on Tuesday and put Rajasthan in once again and try to earn maximum points from the match.
Brief Scores
Rajasthan: 141 (Rajesh Bishnoi 57, Aristh Singhvi 28; Parvinder Awana 2-15) trail Delhi: 201/3 in 56 overs (Unmukt Chand 87 batting, Virender Sehwag 64, Mithun Manhas 34 batting; Aniket Choudhary 2/23) by 60 runs.