Remember Virender Sehwag’s batting? The former India opener used to tear into bowlers, and sending the ball to the boundary seemed his favourite thing. Now his son Aryavir Sehwag has shown a glimpse of the same destructive batting, playing a superb innings of 173 off 143 balls in Indian domestic cricket. He is 18.
Aryavir captains Delhi in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy, India’s under-19 tournament. His innings against Chandigarh today included 19 fours and eight sixes, and carried Delhi to 289 for six in their 50 overs.
The elite stage of the Vinoo Mankad Trophy began in Visakhapatnam on 8 October, with Aryavir leading Delhi. He made his debut for India’s under-19 side against Australia in Rajkot in September, and has now been given the captaincy in domestic cricket.
His experience as captain in the tournament had not been a happy one, however. In the previous match Karnataka scored 418 against his side, and Delhi were bowled out for 220 in reply. Aryavir made 32 in that game, getting a good start but failing to go on. Against Chandigarh, the Sehwag son made up for it with interest.
After winning the toss and batting, Delhi got a fine start from Aryavir and Arnav Bugga, who added 98 for the first wicket. Arnav was out for 47 to Rupesh Yadav, and Delhi lost their second wicket at 107.
But Aryavir held one end and kept scoring. He added 48 for the third wicket with wicketkeeper-batsman Abhiraj Singh, who made 18. At one stage Delhi were 179 for four.
From there Aryavir added another 89 for the fifth wicket with Shantanu Yadav, who made 27. Aryavir was finally out in the 46th over to Shreshth Duggal, by which time he had 173 against his name. Rupesh took two wickets for Chandigarh. Parth Gupta bore the brunt of Aryavir’s onslaught.
His father Virender Sehwag was known in international cricket for aggressive batting, playing even Test cricket in one-day mood. Aryavir’s innings showed the same mindset: he scored 124 of his 143-ball innings in fours and sixes alone.
This is not the first sign of Aryavir’s talent. In a three-match youth one-day series against Australia in September he scored 109 runs for India. India won the rain-hit first match by seven runs.
In the second match Aryavir top-scored for the team with 47, and might have reached fifty had he not been run out. He made 34 in the last match. Scoring runs in all three, the young opener showed his consistency.
Aryavir also has experience in the Delhi Premier League, where he represented West Delhi Lions.
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