Sleeping giant awakens

Published on: Monday 29 December 2014 //

Virender Sehwag waved his willow in the direction of former India off-spinner Sarandeep Singh, who was sitting next to the small scoreboard at the Ferozeshah Kotla. Sehwag was batting on 96 at that point and on seeing his friend at the stadium raised his bat in that direction to acknowledge that he had noticed him.


Sarandeep, who realised that Sehwag was being watchful in his 90s, signalled to him to get a move on and reach the three-figure mark. Sehwag immediately pointed his bat towards the main scoreboard and indicated that he was still four short of his 40th First-Class ton. He would step on the pedal but only after reaching the three-figure mark. Sehwag was not gripped by a bout of nervous nineties but he was being patient as he was approaching a First-Class hundred, a feat that has increasingly become rarer for him.


His 117 against England in Ahmedabad in November of 2012 was the last time Sehwag had scored a century in Test matches and though he made 109, more recently, at Lord’s in the centenary match against MCC, it was clear Sehwag wanted this one badly.


Sarandeep watched Sehwag move from 96 to 97 with a single but soon the batsman ceded to the demand of the former off-spinner. Sehwag stepped out and launched into a full toss from Gujarat’s left-arm spinner Pranjal Sutaria. The ball landed in the mid-wicket region and crossed the rope. With this stoke Sehwag brought up his 40th First-Class ton and his maiden century of the season.


In all Sehwag batted for 50 overs of the Delhi innings and his century came up in the 101st over of the innings. After Unmukt Chand was dismissed on 105, Sehwag put on a 106-run stand with old hand Mithun Manhas (44) to ensure Delhi posted a mammoth 425/6 declared in 115 overs. Shivam Sharma once again gave Delhi an early breakthrough as Gujarat finished the day at 34/1 in 13 overs.


The proceedings on Day Two kicked off an hour late due to bad light With 53 overs being bowled on first day, Delhi knew that they would have to put a big score on board in order to make Gujarat bat twice. Opener Unmukt Chand consumed 42 balls in his nineties before completing his second consecutive century but Sehwag’s was largely a free-flowing innings. He had made 64 in the previous game against Rajasthan but a century is what he was looking for.


From the onset, Sehwag produced crisp drives and powerful square-cuts. In his 14 hits to the fence, majority were played through the point and the cover region. Once the Gujarat attack took the second new ball in the 83rd over, there was anticipation that the harder ball would aid Sehwag further. But seven overs later, Manhas was castled by a beautiful Ishwar Chaudhary delivery that darted in from length. Delhi were 321/3 in 91 overs.


Rajat Bhatia started tentatively and made just seven from 34 balls. The run-rate dipped as Delhi could only make just 28 runs in the next 10 overs. Sehwag too was dismissed shortly after crossing his hundred. Against Sutaria, he jumped out and instead of playing it over the fielder at cover handed him a simple catch. Gujarat now have an uphill task on Day Three but someone will have to step it up. Like Sehwag and Chand did for Delhi.


Brief Scores: Delhi 425/6 decl (U Chand 105, V Sehwag 105, M Manhas 44; P Sutaria 2/103, J Karia 2/81) vs Gujarat 34/1 in 13 ovs (P Panchal 13 batting; S Sharma 1/12)


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