A battle of two second-string Delhi XIs

Delhis fortunes will depend a lot on how sanjeev sharma handles his wards

Sanjeev Sharma had a sleepless night on Tuesday. Following the axing of Manoj Prabhakar in the evening,Sharma burnt the midnight oil,preparing for his new job as the chief coach of the Delhi team. For a man who was Prabhakars assistant until a day ago,the big job had fallen rather unexpectedly into his lap just a day before the start of the 67th Ranji Trophy season.

Jotting down plans for each of his players on a piece of paper,Sharma scribbled down the following points for the last practice session before the game against Haryana. Apart from the reference notes,he also made a list of do not dos for his players: Unmukt Chand will not hit a single big shot; the main bowlers will not bowl to the batsmen; handball will be played as a warm-down exercise and not football. Some of his changes were trivial,while others made sense. But all of them were equally important,considering it was Sharmas way of showing that the regime in the teams ranks had changed,and he was now the new commander.

While Prabhakar was the elephant in the room of the Roshanara clubhouse,the players and the new coach ensured that the past was not spoken of,even as Sharma had a quick chat with captain Mithun Manhas and opener Shikhar Dhawan (who was dressed in his Delhi whites today) to get over the off-field incidents that made headlines over the last few days.

Last-minute addition

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For the hosts,there are problems areas on the field as well. Sharma and Manhas were acquainted with leg-spinner Abhishek Sharma the 15th member of the squad only after the final practice session.

The bounce and carry of the Roshanara pitch,though,will encourage the local seamers in the morning hour,something that brought a smile to the faces of Pradeep Sangwan and Parvinder Awana.

Haryana too will be happy with whats on offer,especially with an array of attacking batsmen and skilled all-rounders at their disposal. Even though seasoned campaigner Joginder Sharma is out with neck spasms,Haryana will be excited at the prospect of taking on an inexperienced Delhi side. Manhas is likely to include three debutants in his playing XI batsman Milind Kumar,left-arm spinner Pawan Negi and seamer Rishit Saini. Haryana too will abide by their new policy of promoting young talent,with possible first caps to Priyank Tehlan - Virender Sehwags cousin and younger brother of Delhi player Mayank lefty batsman Abhimanyu Khod and Gujarats Harshal Patel,a former India under-19 seamer.

Half the Haryana side is from Delhi and have played most of their cricket here. Skipper Amit Mishra is a Delhi product,while opener Rahul Dewan,Tehlan,Prateek Pawar,Sachin Rana,Manav Sharma have played their junior cricket for the capital.

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Although the Delhi side is a heavily watered down version,they are still the favourites in this battle of the two second string Delhi XIs.