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Desperate Delhi waiting for Viru to fire against Vidarbha

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Press Trust of India New Delhi
In their bid to stay on course for a quarter-final berth, hosts Delhi will come out all guns blazing against Vidarbha for an outright win in a Ranji Trophy group league encounter at the Roshanara ground here tomorrow.

Delhi who are placed fifth in group A, are on 12 points from five games while Vidarbha on 11 points are a rung below.

On paper, Delhi are a formidable outfit with skipper Gautam Gambhir and senior pro Mithun Manhas in good touch having scored 409 and 419 runs respectively.

However Delhi's problem has been Virender Sehwag's poor run of form which has now stretched to 8 consecutive innings with only 113 runs to show for his effort with highest score of 44 in an inconsequential second innings.
 

His skipper Gautam Gambhir is not really perturbed by his former opening partner's poor form.

"Viru has been hitting the ball well in the nets and is one knock away from a big score. When he scores, it is normally a big hundred. I am not bothered about his form. As far as his batting number is concerned, it is his personal call," Gambhir told PTI during an interaction today.

Sehwag didn't train at the nets today but chief coach Sanjeev Sharma said that the veteran opener will be playing.

"Viru felt a little bit feverish today and that's why he skipped the nets. He is certainly playing tomorrow," Sharma said.

While there are two pitches that has been prepared for this match, the final decision on the bowling line-up will be taken tomorrow.

If they play on the green-top which has been prepared, they might go with an all-pace attack which might have rookie paceman Navdeep Saini making his first-class debut alongside trio of Ashish Nehra, Sumit Narwal and Parvinder Awana.

21-year-old right arm seamer Saini has impressed skipper Gautam Gambhir in the nets but the final call will be taken tomorrow. In case Delhi opts for a hard-bouncy wicket with less grass, then left-arm spinner Varun Sood will continue in the playing XI.

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First Published: Dec 13 2013 | 8:45 PM IST

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