Delhi under-19's tale of woes in Vinoo Mankad one-dayers

The Delhi Under-19s have returned following a miserable performance in the one-dayers for Vinoo Mankad Trophy, where they managed to win only one match out of five and ended at the sixth and last position in Elite Group E.

They even finished behind the only team they had beaten in the group stage – Assam.

The biggest failure of the team was their batting. After successfully chasing a 238-run target against Assam, which was made possible only by Pranav Pant’s unbeaten 127 and Arnav Bugga’s 57, they struggled to reach even 250 in the remaining four matches.

Their returns were 222/9 against Maharashtra, 186 against Punjab, 230 against Uttar Pradesh and 168 against Rajasthan.

There was just one half-century partnership even though the two opening are known to be among the most talented players in Delhi – Arnav Bugga and Aaryavir Sehwag. The match against Rajasthan was the only one where the two went past fifty – adding 85 but despite the start the team fell for 168.

Skipper Pranav Pant was handed a team of 23 players and he could not maintain a settled team. There were question marks over the inclusion of many players.

One player was included as a wicketkeeper although he wasn’t a wicketkeeper. He was even played. Then there was another who was picked and then dropped following controversy. Another, a left-arm spinner, found his way despite questions over him.

This is nothing new in Delhi.

There are many players who are warming the bench. They have been scoring runs.

Dweep Gahlot scored a triple century in a first round trial game but he was not considered, Swarnim Bansal hit six sixes in an over on way to a quick ton in the first round, he was also not picked. There are others like Agastya Vats, who scored three tons in trials, and Agamjyot Singh, an opener who has been scoring heavily in DDCA League, that were not considered. There are several others.

The DDCA’s policy of selecting players on the basis of trial games is not fool-proof. There could be a phase of say two-three games, which is what you get in trials, where the player doesn’t score.

TV Subramaniam, who runs the Pelicans Cricket Cub, says that there should be a separate league for under-19 and under-16 cricketers that can run through the season. The best out of that can be picked for the team.

To start with, however, the best thing would have been to hold a camp for the squad of 23 and 24 players that were picked. That would have allowed the players some preparation time and allowed the coaching staff to pick the best.

But alas, the long and extended Delhi Premier League (DPL) – it was almost a month-long this time covering the whole of August -- did not let the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) to pick selectors and coaches. That led to the delay in the selection of squad.

There was still a month between the start of the domestic season and end of IPL, but it seems the DDCA was so exhausted by DPL that they took time off and returned to think of the domestic season only when it was upon them.

Tags : Delhi cricket, under-19, Vinoo Mankad Trophy, Pranav Pant, Aaryavir Sehwag, DDCA