Vijay Dahiya: youngsters to get more opportunity

Delhi team to give youngsters more opportunities in the upcoming Ranji matches.

Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya is confident of the road ahead and says youngsters will get more chances in the upcoming Ranji Trophy matches.

After giving an encouraging performance against Odisha here with a team packed with youngsters, Delhi team's think-tank has decided to use the experienced pace duo of Parvinder Awana and Sumit Narwal more “wisely” for the remainder of the Ranji Trophy calendar. Delhi employed the fast bowling trio of Pradeep Sangwan, Navdeep Saini and debutant Subodh Bhati to great effect against Odisha. While Sangwan led the attack and claimed seven wickets to help the team notch up three valuable points, Saini and Bhati complemented the left-armer with some accurate bowling.

Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya had reasons to feel elated and asserted it was high time the younger pace bowlers were given more opportunities. “After the playing XI was known (against Odisha), a lot of people said 'Sumit is not playing, Awana is not playing.' We have to use them sensibly now. They are not getting any younger. As far as the future is concerned, it is going to be Saini, Sangwan, Bhati or someone else who comes from the ranks. With respect to Sumit and Awana, they have done their bit for Delhi. We are going to use them wisely, whenever the (younger) guys need a break,” Dahiya told The Hindu .

Drawing a lot of confidence from the way the team was settling down after the shaky start to the season against Rajasthan where they surrendered a first-innings lead, Dahiya was happy to point out how the up-and-coming players in the side were grabbing the opportunities coming their way.

“We are looking at a particular player at a particular number. Five games down the line we are still sorting that out. But people are looking more assured about the number that they are playing at. Rishabh (Pant) looked really good in the last game, looked like we have a wicketkeeper who can bat; Milind (Kumar) is getting some runs; Nitish (Rana) has been looking good all along. We gave Pulkit (Narang) a chance here and he looked good. Manan (Sharma) is doing really well. Unmukt (Chand) and Gautam (Gambhir) right at the top. We are waiting if (Vaibhav) Rawal can get some runs as well.

“We need to start a culture where we play aggressive cricket to get results,” affirmed Dahiya.