After carrying drinks for Delhi’s Ranji Trophy opener vs Pondicherry at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, seamer Divij Mehra is likely to return to the Playing XI for the side’s second fixture vs Jammu & Kashmir. With both Ishant Sharma and Navdeep Saini unavailable, Mehra is the front-runner to be in the seam attack for the away match starting January 12.
Almost a year back, Mehra was in Delhi’s U-25 squad for the Col CK Naidu Trophy but the moment he landed in Hyderabad and joined the side, the youngster was called up to play the Ranji Trophy fixture for Delhi against Andhra at home.
The youngster took three flights in two days and eventually made his Ranji debut for Delhi. Divij was capped thrice last season where he ended up getting 14 wickets.
“It was a great feeling for me to get the call-up. I was in my zone already and wanted to help the team as much as I could. After the conclusion of the Ranji season, I suffered a hip injury. So, for a month I had my recovery and rehab time. Later, we had the Emerging U23 camp in NCA for a month so, I was there in Bangalore only. After that I started with my training and everything for a couple of months,” Mehra said while talking to CricketNext.
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After some good performances in the previous edition, the 21-year-old is all excited to be around the likes of Ishant Sharma and Navdeep Saini.
“Atmosphere in the team is pretty good. The way it was last year, it’s same this time as well. But yeah, this is the first time that I have interacted with Ishant (Sharma) bhaiya and (Navdeep) Saini bhaiya so closely. It’s a good feeling altogether that they are around and I’m able to talk to them and learn from them,” he said.
Lessons from Ishant Sharma
Mehra is not a typical express pace bowler but bowls with a lot of control, has had some good interactive sessions with Ishant who advised him to make some small tweaks in his bowling.
“I get to learn something new in every net session. For instance, today itself, Ishant bhaiya helped me out with my run-up and whatever I asked him. He almost spent 20-30 minutes with me and talked about my bowling. I’m very grateful,” the right-arm medium pacer said.
“He talked to me about my grip on the ball. My grip on the ball was a bit tight so he suggested me to have a bit loose grip. Apart from that, he also talked to me about my run-up. I was stopping a bit on the last step so he helped me out with that as well,” he added.
IPL trials
The Delhi cricketer attended the Gujarat Titans trials and got some valuable feedback from Ashish Nehra.
“I went for the Gujarat Titans trials and got a call from Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings as well. But during that time, I had my U23 tournament going on so, I wasn’t able to go then. Though, I had a chat with them on call.”
“Talking about the GT trails, it was an amazing experience. I got an opportunity to interact with Ashish Nehra Sir. So, I got to learn some new things that can help me in improving my white-ball skills,” Mehra further added.
Transition from white-ball to red & vice-versa
Talking about his strengths in both white-ball and red-ball cricket, Divij is of the opinion that he is the kind of bowler who can swing the ball both ways.
“Actually, the kind of bowler I am, I don’t really think the transition is difficult for me. My bowling is more about line, length and swing. I know I can swing the ball both ways both with white ball and red ball. That stays the same but the only thing is that in white ball, my Yorker is pretty accurate. I try to stick to that,” he concluded.
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