"Okay it's 0/3, I am not just going to sit around" - Delhi captain Himmat Singh opens up on his heroic 194 in Ranji Trophy 2023/24
Delhi skipper Himmat Singh might have played arguably the innings of the Ranji Trophy 2023/24 season recently against Uttarakhand. It was a shocking start to the campaign for Delhi as they lost at home to Puducherry.
A draw against Jammu & Kashmir followed by a defeat to Madhya Pradesh made Delhi's match against Uttarakhand a virtual do-or-die for Himmat and his men. Being appointed the captain of the side in testing circumstances, things weren't straightforward by any stretch of imagination.
However, Himmat Singh's counter-attacking knock of 194 in the second innings against Uttarakhand paved the way for one of the finest Ranji Trophy comebacks in the history of Delhi cricket.
Delhi had conceded a first-innings lead of 92 runs and were in absolute doldrums when their top four batters scored a grand total of zero runs. With the match and potentially even the season on the line, Himmat came out all guns blazing and scored 194 runs off just 217 balls.
Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda, the Delhi skipper opened up on his mindset while being in that precarious situation. He said:
"As a captain, I was telling all the boys that we have to be braver. When I am giving someone advice, I need to do it myself first. So I had told myself that okay it's 0-3, I am not just going to sit around. I am going to go there, be brave and try and express myself. We didn't have a single fifty from our team and I wanted someone to break that barrier. Luckily things worked for me."
He added:
"I wanted to put the pressure back on the opposition. You cannot survive by just hanging around. The only way out was to take your chances and take on the opposition. I just didn't look at the board once I crossed 30 runs. I was in the zone and I just backed myself to keep batting and play each ball at its merit."
True to his name, Himmat Singh's courageous knock got Delhi in a position where they set a target of 173 runs for Uttarakhand. Delhi bowled out the opposition for 165, winning the thrilling encounter by just seven runs.
Himmat Singh on how he motivates his teammates
One of the main reasons why Delhi could win despite being in a horrific situation was the way Himmat Singh fired up his troops and made them believe that they could come back from any situation.
On this, Himmat stated:
"I just want to motivate my teammates no matter what the situation. I kept on saying that teams have won from much worse situations, why can't we do it then? It was a roller coaster of the game and I just kept talking to the boys about how great it would feel if we won from that situation. Until the match is not over, we always have a chance."
He further added:
"We have a good core of players and we have to give them confidence. We have to keep telling them, 'You're the best in Delhi so you're here.' So it's all about the boys getting used to take that pressure. There's no lack of talent. We have a lot of match-winners in our side."
Delhi still have an outside chance of making it to the knockout stages. Himmat Singh believes that as the side is young, they will get even better with exposure. He feels the players have the potential to take Delhi back to its glory days.