Delhi’s lesser-known players took turns to play crucial roles, with ball and bat, and ensured an important five-wicket victory against last year’s runner-up Saurashtra in the Vijay Hazare Trophy league here on Thursday.
None-too-formidable
Chasing a none-too-formidable target of 238, Delhi seemed to be losing its way at 105 for four with Gautam Gambhir falling for a well-made 62.
But thereafter, Himmat Singh (74 not out, 93b, 5x4, 2x6) stitched together two fruitful stands — with Manan Sharma (25, 2x4, 1x6) and an unbroken 86-run partnership with Lalit Yadav (36 not out, 3x4) to see Delhi home with four overs to spare.
With Delhi opening its campaign with four points, Saurashtra stayed at four points after two matches. On Friday, Delhi plays Hyderabad.
Earlier, medium pacer Subodh Bhati’s five-wicket burst spread over the last five overs, restricted Saurashtra to under 250. From 222 for four in the 46th over, Saurashtra crashed to 237 in 49.3 overs, with Bhati ending the 75-run fifth-wicket partnership and adding four more scalps in a 15-ball second spell.
Saurashtra, playing without Ravindra Jadeja as the all-rounder was called for National duty in the ongoing Asia Cup in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, lost Robin Uthappa for a duck in the opening over. But the blow stood softened once an in-form Sheldon Jackson and Cheteshwar Pujara raised 101 runs.
Dominating
Jackson followed his century against Uttar Pradesh with a dominating 78-ball 62. Even as Jackson his 11 boundaries, Pujara played his part well with an 89-ball 53, dotted with five hits to the fence.
When Delhi chased, Jaydev Unadkat gave Saurashtra a dream start by sending back Unmukt Chand off the first ball.
Delhi responded with a counter-attack involving Gambhir and Dhruv Shorey. The duo maintained a brisk run-rate during the 63-run stand.
Meanwhile, Saurashtra missed the services of an injured Jackson behind the wickets from the third over when he was replaced by substitute Avi Barot.
Shorey, looking in good nick, clearly missed a big knock when he lobbed a straightforward catch at cover.
Soon, Rishabh Pant followed suit. After hitting a six, he was stumped in his bid to step out and defend. When Gambhir was trapped leg-before, Delhi was in trouble.
But Himmat and Manan Sharma denied Saurashtra any more success and resurrected the innings with a 47-run stand.
When Manan was declared leg-before, Delhi still needed 86 runs to win.
Lalit, who earlier took two wickets, joined Himmat and the two took Delhi past the finish-line following their 95-ball association.
The scores: Saurashtra 237 in 49.3 overs (Sheldon Jackson 62, Cheteshwar Pujara 53, Arpit Vasavada 50, Prerak Mankad 35, Subodh Bhati five for 24) lost to Delhi 238 for five wickets in 46 overs (Himmat Singh 74 n.o., Gautam Gambhir 62, Lalit Yadav 36 n.o., Dhruv Shorey 30, Manan Sharma 25) .
Vijay Hazare Trophy scores
At Bengaluru (Elite Group A): Maharashtra 245 for eight in 50 overs (Ankeet Bawane 104 n.o., Rahul Tripathi 70, Ruturaj Gaikwad 32) bt Karnataka 107 for six in 22.4 overs (Pavan Deshpande 31, C.M. Gautam 29) (match called off due to rain, Maharashtra wins by 57 runs via VJD method).
Vidarbha 254 in 50 overs (Atharwa Taide 57, Faiz Fazal 56, Ganesh Satish 32, L. Meriwala three for 54) lost to Baroda 151 for two in 29 overs (Kedar Devdhar 46, A. Waghmode 50, Krunal Pandya 34 n.o.) (match called off due to rain, Baroda win by 37 runs via VJD method).
Railways 187 in 47.5 overs (Karan Sharma 33, Harsh Tyagi 29, M. Dagar four for 38, A. Jamwal three for 36) lost to Himachal Pradesh 170 for five in 41.3 overs (Prashant Chopra 77, N. Gangta 50) (match called off due to rain, HP win by 33 runs via VJD method).
At Delhi (Elite Group B): Saurashtra 237 in 49.3 overs (Sheldon Jackson 62, Cheteshwar Pujara 53, Arpit Vasavada 50, Prerak Mankad 35, Subodh Bhati five for 24) lost to Delhi 238 for five wickets in 46 overs (Himmat Singh 74 n.o., Gautam Gambhir 62, Lalit Yadav 36 n.o., Dhruv Shorey 30, Manan Sharma 25) by five wickets.
Odisha 184 for nine in 50 overs (Sujit Lenka 55, Abhishek Raut 41, Karn Sharma three for 29) lost to Andhra 186 for four in 47.1 overs (Ashwin Hebbar 92 n.o., D.B. Ravi Teja 53 n.o.).
Chhattisgarh 268 for seven in 50 overs (Harpreet Singh 91, Manoj Singh 41, Ishwar Pandey four for 45) bt Madhya Pradesh 146 in 38.2 overs (Anshul Tripathi 59, Pankaj Rao three for 14, Jatin Saxena three for 29, Shahnawaz Hussain three for 39).
At Chennai (Elite Group C): Tamil Nadu 205 for eight in 49 overs (Abhinav Mukund 36, Vijay Shankar 47, B. Indrajith 58, Piyush Chawla three for 38) lost to Gujarat 210 for six in 47.1 overs (Priyank Panchal 117 n.o.). Match reduced to 49 overs due to delayed start.
Rajasthan 73 in 28.3 overs (Shahbaz Nadeem eight for 10, including hat-trick) lost to Jharkhand 76 for three in 14.3 overs.
Jammu & Kashmir 96 in 23.4 overs (Prayas Ray Burman four for 20, Ishan Porel three for 19) lost to Bengal 98 for four in 20.4 overs.
Plate: At Anand: Uttarakhand 160 in 43.2 overs (Vineet Saxena 57, Anunay Singh three for 21, Samar Quadri three for 37) lost to Bihar 163 for five in 37.3 overs (Vikash Ranjan 79).
At Nadiad: Mizoram 154 in 43.4 overs (Taruwar Kohli 90) lost to Meghalaya 155 for two in 27.3 overs (Puneet Bisht 95 n.o., Jason Lamare 41 n.o.)
At Vadodara: Sikkim 84 in 37.2 overs (Bishworjit Konthoujam three for 9) lost to Manipur 85 for no loss in 19.2 overs (Lakhan Rawat 44 n.o., Pukhrambam Singh 30 n.o.) .
