Just a week ago, there was a lot of noise around Mumbai’s Prithvi Shaw. The opening batter was bulldozing the selector’s doors with a mighty 379-run knock against Assam and was rewarded with a national call-up for the New Zealand T20Is. Given his red-hot form, Prithvi was expected to replicate his fireworks against a fragile Delhi attack, and if not, just a glimpse of it. The bowling of Delhi has been such this season that every other batter is wishing to be at Kotla and improve their numbers.
But those who are following the Ranji Trophy 2022-23 closely couldn’t believe what they saw in the past three days. A rookie pacer, who is playing just the second match of his First-class career, got the better of Prithvi in both innings. Divij Mehra is his name.
One of the tallest figures in the Delhi camp, Divij isn’t equipped with raw pace, a fact he too is aware of. But his lack of pace was masked by a disciplined bowling performance earning him his first five-wicket haul against a heavy-weight Mumbai. Prithvi, Musheer Khan, Arman Jaffer, Sarfaraz Khan, and Mohit Awasthi; all five of them were taken aback by the way Divij made the ball talk with his military medium.
Speaking to the media after the end of the third day’s play, Divij admitted that bowling tight lines was the key to his success.
“That was my plan and as discussed with the coaches – tight line daalo (Keep bowling on tight lines). It was day 3, they would be looking to score runs and going for an outright win. So, I tried to bowl on the correct line and length, as much as I can," Divij said.
“I knew that if he [Prithvi] gets the width, he would hit it for a boundary. He has been playing such balls with utmost ease. So, my only plan against him was to bowl wicket to wicket. And instead of outswingers, I was trying to bowl the inswingers in order to restrict him from hitting those big runs," he further said.
Divij’s call-up to the Delhi Ranji squad is a fascinating tale in itself. He was named in Delhi’s U-25 squad for the Colonel CK Naidu Trophy. But as he reached Hyderabad and joined the team, he was summoned to the base in Delhi to play the game against Andhra. The youngster took three flights in two days and following a hectic travel, there comes his best bowling figures in Ranji Trophy.
“I took three flights in a matter of two days. I went to Hyderabad and they called me back for the match against Andhra Pradesh. So in a way, it was good for me, because several bowlers in the team were injured so I thought I might get a chance. But didn’t go deep into it. I just followed my process and practiced," Divij said in response to a News18 CricketNext query.
He didn’t think he will make his debut in Ranji Trophy this season. But several seniors, including Ishant Sharma, getting injured created an opportunity for the lanky player and he grabbed it with both hands.
“I never expected that I would play for Delhi in this Ranji season. The team already had big players like Ishant Sharma. So, when I got the opportunity, everybody else in the team backed me and helped me in dealing with the stars of Mumbai. I’ve seen the videos of them. I was just trying to play up to my strength," Divij told the media.
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