Sehwag flatters to deceive as Delhi zoom ahead

Delhi 22 for 0 trail Haryana 195 (Jayant Yadav 41, Sehwag 37, Manan Sharma 5-57) by 173 runs
Scorecard

It was typical Virender Sehwag. Before coming to the ground he, always the showman, tweeted, "If you are a true fan of Sehwag, then come to Kotla and watch the game."

If it is a big match, he says it is a big match. He is not one for diplomatic "every game is important for us". Playing against his home side until now, Delhi, Sehwag asked for the support of "true fans of Sehwag". Now true fans of Sehwag are familiar with his moments of ecstasy and deep frustration in equal measures. There was more of that frustration than ecstasy on day one in the match against Delhi, Sehwag's original side.

In the seventh over of the day, Ishant Sharma brought Sehwag in by drawing an edge from Rahul Dewan. Sehwag walked in amid a lot of chirping, the crowd began to swell to eventually reach about 200, and the anticipation arose. To the first ball, Sehwag typically planted his front foot down. But neither was this the old Sehwag, nor the old Ishant. The ball reared off just short of a length, and hit the shoulder of the bat. For the next ball, Sehwag stayed back.

Ishant, the man whom Sehwag had famously asked to bowl one more over in Perth, was now asked to bowl a fifth over. Ishant had generally been bowling four-over spells in Sri Lanka. This was expected, too. The best bowler in the side asked to bowl one extra over to the biggest name in the opposition batting line-up.

Tthe action, though, was all at the other end, as Ishant's extra over went away uneventfully. Pradeep Sangwan, the bowler at the other end, bowled short. Sehwag cut in the air, but he cut so hard that Yogesh Nagar at short cover-point took evasive action. The ball hit the shin pad even before he knew it. Later in the over, Sehwag pushed at a wide length ball, with no feet, and edged past gully for four.

Soon, though, Sehwag found the timing on the cuts. Twice, he cleared point with the cut. Once he edged Sangwan over slips, but that is not a risky shot for Sehwag. He knows if he connects them he gets four, and if he edges them it clears the slips. Then, he walked down to Sangwan and drove him wide of mid-on for another four. He began to stand a couple of yards outside the crease to the quicks. As Sehwag began to get settled, Manan Sharma, the left-arm spinner of Delhi, began to take wickets with a lack of turn. Chaitanya Bishnoi and Himanshu Rana fell in the space of two overs, lbw to Manan.

Sehwag's response was immediate. As the new batsman walked in, he found time to wave to his fans, sending them into a frenzy. He then began to chat with Ishant who was walking back to his mark. And then he tried to respond in the way he knows best: dance down, hit Manan off his rhythm by sending him into the grass bank behind wide long-on. Early on a Thursday morning, Kotla had come alive.

Now was the true test of true Sehwag fans. In the same over, he hit to Ishant at mid-on, and called Sachin Rana through for a single. Sehwag ran hard, looked like he would make it easily, and then just plonked his bat in. To those watching from square it was obvious he had been caught short, but the third umpire was called on. The 200 people began to shout, "Not out, not out," but Delhi began to celebrate. Sehwag walked back. Everything became quiet.

Thirty-seven runs off 61 balls. Some vintage Sehwag cuts, a loose push, an early forward movement, a six, and a lazy run-out. A Haryana official who walked in late showed no surprise when told the way Sehwag got out. Nor did the fans. They are used to such disappointments: loose shots, lazy running et al. So they sat and watched Delhi chip away at the rest on a slow pitch and bowl the visitors out for 195 before negotiating nine overs for 22 runs without any loss.