The ton-full Jonty, Delhi end Ranji season on a high

On the afternoon of February 18, a Sunday, closeted inside the quiet and empty Jamia Millia Islamia’s MAK Pataudi Sports Complex (formerly Bhopal Grounds), Delhi’s left-handed middle-order batsman Jonty Sidhu waged a battle to get his team crucial lead as wickets around him fell with methodical regularity.

Delhi needed to get past Odisha’s first innings total of 440 to get three points on first innings, something that wouldn’t matter in the end as they had already missed the chance to qualify for next stage before entering this final league game. In fact, even a win wouldn’t matter.

But there was something they had to desperately play for -- pride, and to restore respect that the team had lost in the early stage of the tournament, especially after losing to Puducherry.

Chasing Odisha’s 440, which was built on Subhransu Senapati’s 111, seasoned Biplab Samantray’s 110 and skipper Shantanu Mishra’s 76, was going to be tough.

But Delhi began well. Anuj Rawat (40) and new inductee Gagan Vats (66) set the ball rolling, adding 67 for the first wicket.

Yash Dhull, who was axed from captaincy after loss to Puducherry and had the load of below-par performance weighing on him rather heavily, walked in to bat and unleashed strokes that left all in a daze. He made 112 in 167 balls, hitting 14 fours and a six in his first century of the season and was the enforcer as Vats first and Ayush Badoni, centurion from last game, stood at the other end playing second fiddle.

The master was at work, taking Delhi from strength to strengh. He added 77 with Vats for second wicket and 73 for third wicket with Badoni (22).

But such is the nature of multi-day format that you are never in unless you are through. Ask England. They were chugging along well at 207/2 when Joe Root and Ben Duckett took guard on Day 3 in the third Test against India at Rajkot. Root fell and England lost the plot and the match.

At 214/2, Badoni fell followed by skipper Himmat (6) at 235, before Dhull himself fell with the score on 266.

Delhi were still 174 adrift and getting three points looked like a far-fetched dream. It would be another humiliation and the players would probably be hiding their faces after finishing sixth out of eight teams in their pool.

But Sidhu found an able partner in Kshitiz Sharma. Yes, the same Kshitiz whose inclusion in the team has been questioned.

Kshitiz buckled down along with Sidhu to deny the Odisha bowlers. It was a battle of attrition that consumed the major part of the third day. The two hung on. Kshitiz showed why the trust in him wasn’t misplaced. Both showed immense reserves of patience and concentration.

They hung around for 45.3 overs, adding 147 for the sixth wicket. They scored at just over 3.2 on a pitch suited for batting but one that had become slow and low by the third afternoon.

When Kshitiz departed at 413 as the sixth wicket, going past the Odisha total was a mere formality. Delhi needed just 28 and Sidhu was ensconced there. Besides, Delhi had a tail that could wag.

But Sumit Mathur fell as the seventh wicket with the score at 420, Pranshu Vijayran fell as the eighth with the score on 430, and spinner Prince Choudhary, the new Punjab Kings purchase, deposited a catch in forward short-leg’s lap with the team just one run short of Odisha total.

It was anybody’s game now.

Delhi needed one run to equal the target and Sidhu needed one run to complete his hundred. Odisha needed one wicket to take lead and three points.

Ajay Masih, the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA)’s groundsman, had been engrossed in the game and waited with bated breath, as he waited on the protagonists’ next move to flip the numbers on manual scoreboard. It was aar ya paar (this way or that way).

A couple of nervy moments passed. The Delhi players were outside the dressing room in the EJ Kellat Pavilion. One run was worth more than a few gold coins. If someone were to tickle the Delhi players and draw out their superstitions, they would succeed.  

Sidhu then edged one but the wicket-keeper took it on the bounce. The appeal was referred to third umpire and as the green light flashed from the far corner, a roar erupted from the Delhi dressing room.

Sidhu then played one on the off and ran for a single. He reached his century but the last man Himanshu Chauhan – a great find this season – was slow to respond. Sidhu almost lost his temper and shouted at the youngster after the two completed the tight single. But he had reached his century, a commendable effort. Still, he didn’t celebrate as the scores were tied.  

He took strike the next over and carved a four through cover and then raised his arms and jumped. It was a delayed celebration that showed the team cause greater than the individual cause.

The score moved to 444/9 thanks to deft hands of Masih, and soon the Delhi dressing room erupted in joy. Chauhan tonked a six over mid-wicket before getting bowled before stumps were drawn. The Odisha fielders were so lost that none came to pick the ball. A journalist had to retrieve the ball and hand over to the unfortunate Odisha players, who had played hard but couldn’t cross the line.

Delhi had passed the test.

Sidhu had taken it stage by stage, he later said.

“I wasn’t thinking that we have to take the lead. My focus was on just building a big partnership and taking the total as close as possible. I thought, let us get as close as possible and not think too far ahead,” said Sidhu after the third day’s play.

“Kshitiz bhaiya and I were going ball-to-ball. We weren’t thinking much. We were focussing on the next ball. We thought we should exploit the boundary ball we get. The pitch was favouring the batsmen on the first two days, but then it started keeping low. In the last session, the ball turned a bit.”

Sidhu echoed the feelings of his captain Himmat, who too had played a stellar role in a game earlier in the season and mentioned difficulties faced by north Indian teams’ batsmen in cold and wintry conditions.

“We hadn’t started the Ranji season well. We were dismissed early. Pitches were favouring the seamers. In north India, few batsmen could score because it was cold and aided movement. The weather is holding up now, so batsmen have found form.”

Having smelt blood on the third day, or as they say in local parlance, daant me khoon lag gaya, Delhi ran amok on Day 4.

Left-arm spinner Mathur exploited the turn available on the pitch, picking five wickets while pace bowlers Chauhan and Vijayran picked two each as Odisha were shot out for 133 in 46 overs.

It meant that Delhi needed just 123 to win in just over a session.

Skipper Himmat promoted himself to No. 3 to unleash his attacking strokeplay as Vats held one end up after the early loss of Rawat, who had gone in pursuit of the total.

Himmat made 32 off 31 balls (4x4s, 1x6), Badoni hammered unbeaten 40 off 33 (4x4s, 2x6s) and Dhull unbeaten 16 off 11 (2x4s, 1x6). Vats made 24 off 43 (2x4s) and was dismissed just 33 runs short of victory target.  

Delhi finished a creditable third in Elite Group D with 20 points, behind Madhya Pradesh (32 points) and Baroda (24 points).

Delhi players must be resting now, but bothered by ‘what ifs’. What if we had won the first game against Puducherry, what if the second match against Jammu and Kashmir was completed and not lost to weather, and what if just one of the many talented batsmen like Himmat, Badoni, Dhull or Sidhu, had more than one century in the season.

But as Sidhu said, “As a unit we couldn’t perform as well as we were expected to. We will focus on the next season.”

Tags : Cricket, Ranji Trophy, Jonty Sidhu, Yash Dhull, Himmat Singh, Ayush Badoni, Sumit Mathur