Delhi's young brigade calls the shots |
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Thursday January 4, 01:24 AM
DELHI'S YOUNG brigade finally seems to be taking centrestage. After years of dilly-dallying by the selectors, with seniors being kept on merely because of past records than current performances, Delhi can now actually look forward to the Ishants, Kohlis, Tehlans, Bishts and Jains to take the state forward.
Through this current Ranji season, the youngsters have been overshadowing their senior mates, even forcing some to take tough decisions over their futures.
On Wednesday, they went a step ahead and pulled Delhi out of a potential crisis. Mayank Tehlan, who was the first to raise his hand on Tuesday, completed his second century of the season to take Delhi to a fighting 355 against Andhra at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium. Jain was the last man to go, after running out of partners, falling for 72 which came off 171 balls. His 81-run partnership with Tehlan proved to be the key for Delhi, as the two didn't allow the Andra bowlers to dictate terms.
When the Andhra innings started, Delhi had only three regular bowlers --- Ishant Sharma, Amit Bhandari and Suhail Sharma. In the absence of the experienced Nehra, Ishant took up the challenge, generating extra pace and bounce to force Andhra openers Manoj Sai and LN Prasada Reddy on to the back-foot. After struggling against Ishant, Sai finally fell, bowled by a sharp incoming delivery. ASK Varma went next, taken smartly on his follow through by Rajat Bhatia on the very first ball of his spell. Ishant then trapped Andhra skipper Y Venugopala Rao LBW wicket for four. At stumps, Andhra were four down for 92, still 114 short of avoiding the follow on.
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