In his second first-class game, the 20-year-old forward elevated Delhi to full points against Mumbai.
Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan, both test takers, do not want to lose to Divij Mehra’s slow-moving military once more. Mehra hit Shaw with the nip-backer, the Mumbai batsman’s most feared opponent, in both innings. Sarfaraz, his coworker, is in the same predicament. When a ball from another Mehra hit him, his off-stump did a cartwheel, and he got a rare first-ball duck. Mumbai’s two batting pillars were back in the hut at stumps, giving the record-holders a meager advantage of 92 runs. Delhi increased their first innings score by 54 runs to 369 after scoring 315 for 7.
Shaw attended this match after scoring a triple century against Assam. But because he didn’t get his bat down in time to catch the ball in front of him, he only played 19 balls and scored 16 runs. In Adelaide against Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins and Wellington against Tim Southee and Trent Boult, he had previously fallen to the incoming ball. Mehra is baffled by the fact that his ball only reached 121 kilometers per hour, probably the fastest speed of the day, as he gets ready for his Test comeback.
He never intended for us to be wide. It is impossible to provide players like Sarfaraz Khan and Prithvi Shaw with width. They will hit you because they want to have fun. Mehra stated later, “My strategy was to bowl in-swingers and not give them a chance to open their arms.” It was successful.
With a couple of lovely boundaries, Arman Jaffer added nine runs to the total before Anuj Rawat caught him behind the stumps after Mehra dislodged him. After scoring a hundred in the first innings, Sarfaraz, a serial century-maker whose absence from the Australia series had prompted criticism, entered the game. He was, however, unable to avoid the one that recurved into the stumps, just like Shaw. Musheer Khan, Sarfaraz’s 17-year-old brother, was also troubled by Mehra. It has been questioned his tendency to play away from the body. Mehra was able to squeeze one ball through the gap between his bat and pad while wicketkeeper Anuj Rawat was standing up to the stumps. The ball’s speed was 116 kilometers per hour, not pace; He had a technical issue that led to the error.
Delhi fell quickly to 37 for 5 in the bitter cold before Shams Mulani and Ajinkya Rahane fought back. When Hrithik Shokeen’s 66-ball 30 gave Mulani the lead, both teams had scored 59 runs.
Rahane and Tanush Kotian rebuilt with the score at 141/6, but Pranshu Vijayran struck Rahane out for 51. Rahane fought until he was fifty, but he didn’t look hurt. Vaibhav Rawal made an excellent low catch at the second slip after Vijayran repeatedly beat his outside edge before finding it. Despite Mumbai’s defeat to the bad light of Tushar Deshpande and Mohit Avasthi, Kotian remained steadfast. Mehra got his first five-wicket haul thanks to Avasthi’s wicket, and Delhi won the game.
Mehra has been on a rollercoaster ride in the year 2023. He was let go to play for the U-25 team after receiving his first Ranji Trophy call-up. Kuldip Yadav was chosen to play for the senior team against Andhra because he had been injured on the day he arrived in Hyderabad to play in the U-25 match. His unbeaten partnership with Harshit Rana for 55 runs for the 10th wicket gave Delhi their first three points of the season and a lead in the first innings. He now has five wickets for the first time.
Mehra was caught off guard by his luck. “I flew three times in two days to make my debut against Andhra, and now I have a fiance,” he stated. He stated, “I never thought I would get a Ranji call-up” at the beginning of the season.
If the first-choice seamers in Delhi were healthy, the 20-year-old might not have been considered for the job. There are five injuries being treated: But it didn’t matter because Mehra made his first-class cricket debut. Mayank Yadav, Simarjeet Singh, Kuldip Yadav, Ishan Sharma, and Pradeep Sangwan.