At the dawn of a new Ranji Trophy season, Delhi seemed stuck in its old ways as it endured a nine-wicket defeat against Bengal in Kalyani in the Elite Group-C encounter last week.
The below-par totals could be partly justified by the presence of Mohammed Shami, Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar in Bengal’s pace attack. “Saini has been part of the Indian set-up. You want to see that mentality. An India player should stand out when he is playing a Ranji game,” Dahiya reasoned.
Delhi has a 17-member squad, including Priyansh Arya, to choose from. The aggressive left-hander’s availability is a boost to the batting unit, which was shot out for 240 and 277 by Bengal. But Delhi’s bowlers ought not to have conceded over 400 in Bengal’s first innings.
“It’s not a very typical Palam surface. Normally, you don’t see that much grass. Flights routinely pass this venue at low altitude given its proximity to the airport. On the field, which team will soar higher?
Although Palam has historically not been amenable to outright results, Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya expects the surface for this game to behave differently. I have a feeling that bounce can be an issue as the game goes on,” he assessed on Saturday.