'Bowl at 4th-5th stump line': Himangshu Sangwan reveals team bus driver's advice to get Kohli's wicket

With just one picture perfect inswinging delivery, pacer Himangshu Sangwan became the talk of the town when he dismissed batting great Virat Kohli during the Ranji Trophy game between Delhi and Railways on Friday, January 31 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.

For the 5000-odd crowd that assembled at the Arun Jaitley Stadium to watch Kohli, it was fun while it lasted, but when he had his off-stump uprooted by Railways pacer Sangwan in the 28th over of Delhi's first innings, a majority of them took no time to exit the arena.

Kohli, who has been struggling with a lean patch of form with the bat, returned to domestic cricket after 13 years, but could only manage to score 6 runs in 15 balls before falling prey to 29-year-old Sangwan.

Sangwan, who played spoilsport to Virat Kohli's return to Ranji Trophy, revealed in a recent interview that, to much of his surprise, the driver of the team bus in which the Railways team was travelling, adviced him to "bowl at the fourth or fifth stump" to get the batting maestro's wicket before the match.

Speaking to Hindustan Times about his experience of dismissing Kohli, Sangwan said, "The bus in which we were travelling, even the driver told me that you need to bowl at the fourth-fifth stump line to Kohli, and then he will get out. I had self-belief. I just wanted to focus on my own strengths rather than someone else's weaknesses. I bowled to my strengths and ended up getting the wicket."

He added, "Before the match, there were talks about Kohli and Rishabh Pant going to play for Delhi. At the time, we didn't know that the match would be aired live. We slowly learned that Pant wouldn't play, but Kohli would, and the match would be streamed live. I am leading the Railways' pace attack. Every team member told me that they thought I would dismiss Kohli."

"There was no specific plan for Kohli in general. The coaches told us that the players from Delhi like to play attacking cricket. They are all stroke players. We were told to bowl a disciplined line," he went on.

Despite Sangwan's heroics, Delhi defeated Railways by an innings and 19 runs on Day 3 of the match.

(With PTI inputs)