You could well say the whole point of Virender Sehwag’s strident protests over what happens in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) has gone in vain. The state association provided yet another shining example of all that is wrong in the Capital, proving that some things won’t change, no matter what.
The Delhi u-22 team played their opening match of the CK Nayudu trophy against Baroda on Wednesday at the St. Stephen’s ground where they not only ‘forgot’ to pick an opening bowler as a standby but also replaced their 12th man 15 minutes after submitting the team sheet. Right-arm medium pacer Vishu Tomar played the game despite not being picked in the 15-man squad for the tournament. While the team sheet (a copy of which is with HT) listed Gaurav Jhangra as 12th man but it was Mayank Raghav who took the field when Gaurav Chabra and Tapan Jain came off the field.
When asked about the strange last-minute inclusion of Tomar, Sanjeev Sharma, chairman of the under-22 selection committee said: “Abhishek Singh (medium-pacer) injured his finger so we had to call Tomar to play in this match.”
The question is, why the selectors did not pick a reserve fast bowler in the squad of fifteen, especially given that they are an injury-prone breed.
{{/usCountry}}The question is, why the selectors did not pick a reserve fast bowler in the squad of fifteen, especially given that they are an injury-prone breed.
{{/usCountry}}Baroda, however, had no such problems, and put 257 on the board in their first innings, riding on Swapnil Singh’s 91 and opener Anupam Gupta’s 52. The home bowling attack looked listless till about 75 overs when Baroda had reached 200 for the loss of just three wickets.
Delhi turned the game only after left-arm medium-fast debutant Pawan Suyal removed Swapnil, who looked well on his way to a century. Pawan returned figures of 4 for 55 while Tomar cashed in, picking up 4 for 28.
Brief Scores: Baroda 1st inn: 257 all out (Swapnil Singh 91, Anupam Gupta 52, Kedar Dhar 46; Pawan Suyal 4-55, Vishu Tomar 4-28).