Delhi register fourth successive win

 Hosts Delhi registered their fourth win in the North Zone leg of the Vijay Hazare Trophy by beating Haryana by four wickets at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground here on Sunday.

Delhi, who are through to the knock-out round, now have 19 points from four games but this was the first match where they couldn’t manage a bonus point.

Chasing a modest 214, Delhi batsmen made a rough weather of an easy target as they won with three balls to spare. It was skipper Rajat Bhatia who finished the proceedings with a hige six over mid-wicket off Harshal Patel’s bowling.

For Delhi, youngster Mohit Sharma (56 runs, 65 balls, 5x4) was the top-scorer while Punit Bisht (33), Milind Kumar (39) got out after getting set. With the pitch slowing down considerably, shot-making wasn’t easy.

When Haryana batted, it was Parvinder Awana (3/31) who again bowled his heart out while Ashish Nehra (1/57) was unlucky with as many as three catches being dropped off his bowling. Rahul Dewan, who opens for Haryana in Ranji Trophy batted in the middle-order and top-scored with 56 off 89 balls with three fours.

The other significant contribution came from Sachin Rana (47, 80b, 4x4, 1x6). Left-arm spinner Pawan Suyal and left-arm spinner Varoon Sood also chipped in with a wicket each.

Wicket at last for Bhajji

Punjab captain Harbhajan Singh finally got a wicket after three wicketless matches as Punjab beat Services by a whopping 131-run margin to earn bonus point at the Palam B ground.

Batting first, Punjab scored 288 for six with Gurkirat Singh Ahluwalia (108, 103b, 15x4) scoring a century while Mandeep Singh (62, 65b, 3x4, 1x6) and Ravi Inder Singh (51) made well-compiled half centuries.

The two significant partnerships were that of 97 between Gurkirat and Ravi Inder while the former was also involved in another 115-run stand with Mandeep Singh.
Punjab then bowled out Services for 157 in 43.1 overs. Harbhajan, who has been economical so far had figures of one for 28 in 10 overs as he got the wicket of Ritesh Negi caught by Taruwar Kohli.

HARYANA: Nitin Saini c Bisht b Suyal 32, Sonu Rathee c Nagar b Awana 17, Sunny Singh b Awana 0, Sachin Rana b Awana 47, Rahul Dewan c Nagar b Nehra 56, Yatharth Tomar c Dhawan b Sood 18, Bhupinder Lingwal (not out) 11, Kuldeep Hooda (not out) 18. Extras (LB-7, W-7) 14. Total (for 6 wkts, 50 overs) 213.
Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-34, 3-69, 4-144, 5-181, 6-187.

Bowling: Ashish Nehra 10-0-57-1, Parvinder Awana 10-3-31-3, Pawan Suyal 10-0-55-1, Rajat Bhatia 10-3-22-0, Varun Sood 10-1-41-1.

DELHI: Unmukt Chand c Saini b Sharma 35, Shikhar Dhawan c Sharma b Rana 17, Mohit Sharma b Hooda 65, Puneet Bisht (run out) 33, Milind Kumar c Sharma b Patel 31, Rajat Bhatia (not out) 21, Yogesh Nagar c Sunny b Patel 11, Varun Sood (not out) 0. Extras (B-1, LB-3, W-1, NB-1) 6. Total (for 6 wkts, 49.3 overs) 219.
Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-61, 3-117, 4-174, 5-192, 6-212.

Bowling: Kuldeep Hooda 10-0-35-1, Harshal Patel 9.3-0-52-2, Mohit Sharma 10-0-29-1, Sonu Rathee 6-0-30-0, Sachin Rana 9-0-44-1, Jayant Yadav 5-0-25-0.

Brief scores: Jammu & Kashmir: 211/9 in 50 overs (Arshad Bhatt 25, Parvez Rassol 26, Hardeep Singh 29, Ram Dayal 34 n.o.; Rishi Dhawan 2-37, Rahul Singh 3-39, Abhinav Bali 2-32) lt to Himachal Pradesh: 212/7 in 48.4 overs (Prashant Chopra 28, Abhinav Bali 34, Sridharan Sriram 44; Parvez Rassol 2-41). Himachal 4 pts, J&K 0.
Punjab: 288/6 in 50 overs (Ravi Inder Singh 51, Gurkirat Ahluwalia 108, Mandeep Singh 62; Sumit Singh 3-52) bt Services: 157 all out in 43.1 overs (Soumyaranjan Swain 41; Siddharth Kaul 2-22, Ravi Inder Singh 3-38). Punjab 5 pts, Services -1.