The wicketkeeper of Delhi Ranji team, youngster Anuj Rawat played a really riveting knock of 134 against the Madhya Pradesh side in the Elite Group B match between the sides on 23rd December 2018 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. It was a special knock since most of the other players from both sides till then had fallen off their horsebacks - first Madhya Pradesh had been dismissed for 132 on the first day by a splendid bowling effort from Vikas Mishra who took 6/41, and then Delhi were reduced to 36/5 against the quality pace of Avesh Khan of Madhya Pradesh.
Three days prior to Christmas, Delhi was under the fire of a chilling winter with minimum temperatures in single digits and when Kotla's pitch faced an issue of over-watering which led the game to be delayed by an hour or so on the first day. Strange reason for a delay in matches; but that's cricket in India for you - sometimes players' kits would arrive late and on other times disgruntled officials would leave you in the lurch to make a point or two by protesting to stop water supply to a stadium if complimentary passes are not given to some of the employees of their department (Former England skipper Mike Brearley recounted one such instance that loomed on an Eden Gardens Test years ago between India and England in one of the Pataudi memorial lectures at Kolkata).
The most unique aspect of Rawat's innings was the steely resolve he possessed against some really quick thunderbolts from Khan when he walked out with Delhi reeling at 8/3. He got hit by a fiery bouncer from the speedster when he had just touched double digits. A ball that took off from short of length and hit him real hard - the kind of cricket which makes you shiver and makes you wonder why on earth they call this a gentleman's sport when it is such mean business out there.
The young wicketkeeper, however, was unfazed, and went on to score a century against some quality fast bowling by Avesh Khan and Kuldeep Sen of Madhya Pradesh at the Kotla. The ease with which he cut and pulled from there on, egged by a supportive home crowd, was a sight to behold. Rarely did he falter there upto the moment he got out at his eventual score of 134 with Delhi at 233/8 in the final session of the day.
He constructed two crucial partnerships - first a 60-run stand with Lalit Yadav and then a 118-run stand with Shivam Sharma. Rawat's dogged determination that day was a thing to be felt and experienced sitting in the spectators' arena - at the Mohinder Amarnath stand of the Kotla which was open to the public and where the crowd steadily increased as news of his wondrous fours and sixes (14 and four respectively) spread through the wires. Without doubt, the youngster has immense reserves of steely determination to go along with good technique to stay put at the crease and score well simultaneously. His ability to score fours and sixes against pacers and spinners alike, virtually around the ground, with shots as diverse as late cut, cover drive, off drive, on drive, pull, add reverse sweeps as well apart from defending with ease reminiscent of experienced batsmen of yore. Rawat's batting was simply awesome in one word. The atmospherics of Kotla lent their quaint charm to his innings and old-timers amongst the crowd might have been reminded of a 128 ball 121 by former India opener Sunil Gavaskar against the fearsome pace quartet of West Indies in the winter of 1983.
It is a fact of life, as Paulo Coelho has so beautifully laid out in 'The Alchemist' that if one is determined to achieve a noble goal, the universe conspires to help you achieve that as the cricketing atmospherics of Kotla helped the young Rawat to a valiant 134 out of his side's score of 261. The young wicketkeeper joins ranks amongst a formidable set of wicketkeepers who represent various sides on the Indian cricketing scene. He is still around 19 and has a long way to go but any one who was witness to his elegant and cracking batsmanship on that day would affirm that the youngster has a bright future, if he keeps up his determination going forward.
Brief scores: MP (132 and 157) lost to Delhi (261 and 31/1) by 9 wickets.
Three days prior to Christmas, Delhi was under the fire of a chilling winter with minimum temperatures in single digits and when Kotla's pitch faced an issue of over-watering which led the game to be delayed by an hour or so on the first day. Strange reason for a delay in matches; but that's cricket in India for you - sometimes players' kits would arrive late and on other times disgruntled officials would leave you in the lurch to make a point or two by protesting to stop water supply to a stadium if complimentary passes are not given to some of the employees of their department (Former England skipper Mike Brearley recounted one such instance that loomed on an Eden Gardens Test years ago between India and England in one of the Pataudi memorial lectures at Kolkata).
The most unique aspect of Rawat's innings was the steely resolve he possessed against some really quick thunderbolts from Khan when he walked out with Delhi reeling at 8/3. He got hit by a fiery bouncer from the speedster when he had just touched double digits. A ball that took off from short of length and hit him real hard - the kind of cricket which makes you shiver and makes you wonder why on earth they call this a gentleman's sport when it is such mean business out there.
The young wicketkeeper, however, was unfazed, and went on to score a century against some quality fast bowling by Avesh Khan and Kuldeep Sen of Madhya Pradesh at the Kotla. The ease with which he cut and pulled from there on, egged by a supportive home crowd, was a sight to behold. Rarely did he falter there upto the moment he got out at his eventual score of 134 with Delhi at 233/8 in the final session of the day.
He constructed two crucial partnerships - first a 60-run stand with Lalit Yadav and then a 118-run stand with Shivam Sharma. Rawat's dogged determination that day was a thing to be felt and experienced sitting in the spectators' arena - at the Mohinder Amarnath stand of the Kotla which was open to the public and where the crowd steadily increased as news of his wondrous fours and sixes (14 and four respectively) spread through the wires. Without doubt, the youngster has immense reserves of steely determination to go along with good technique to stay put at the crease and score well simultaneously. His ability to score fours and sixes against pacers and spinners alike, virtually around the ground, with shots as diverse as late cut, cover drive, off drive, on drive, pull, add reverse sweeps as well apart from defending with ease reminiscent of experienced batsmen of yore. Rawat's batting was simply awesome in one word. The atmospherics of Kotla lent their quaint charm to his innings and old-timers amongst the crowd might have been reminded of a 128 ball 121 by former India opener Sunil Gavaskar against the fearsome pace quartet of West Indies in the winter of 1983.
It is a fact of life, as Paulo Coelho has so beautifully laid out in 'The Alchemist' that if one is determined to achieve a noble goal, the universe conspires to help you achieve that as the cricketing atmospherics of Kotla helped the young Rawat to a valiant 134 out of his side's score of 261. The young wicketkeeper joins ranks amongst a formidable set of wicketkeepers who represent various sides on the Indian cricketing scene. He is still around 19 and has a long way to go but any one who was witness to his elegant and cracking batsmanship on that day would affirm that the youngster has a bright future, if he keeps up his determination going forward.
Brief scores: MP (132 and 157) lost to Delhi (261 and 31/1) by 9 wickets.
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