Vijay Hazare Trophy: Virat Kohli's sparkling ton headlines Delhi's chase

Bengaluru: The disappointment of M Chinnaswamy Stadium losing many big-ticket matches isn't going to heal any soon. 

However, a Virat Kohli (131, 101b, 14x4, 3x6) batting exhibition, albeit behind closed doors and without being live telecast, would have provided some satisfaction and excitement to many fans refreshing scores on the internet as Vijay Hazare Trophy Elite Group D fixtures were held across the city.  

At the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence Ground 2, it was a gallery of stroke-making, as Kohli, who walked out to the middle after the third ball of the Delhi innings, turned a chase of 299 into a mere match simulation, as they wrapped it up in 37.4 overs with four wickets to spare. 

The 37-year-old, who was making his List-A return after a 12-year hiatus, meant business from the third ball, smashing it straight down the ground for a boundary. The rotation of strike was filled with purpose, as quick singles were converted into twos and also rolled his wrists to send the ball rolling to all parts. 

Kohli’s innings, which is usually associated with flair and elegance, was also filled with power and precision, batting at a strike rate of over 110 for most of his innings. 

While he looked aggressive, he was given a respite on 32, when he was dropped by Saurabh Kumar at mid-on. He did make use of the extra life, reaching his fifty with a flashy cut in 39 balls.

Kohli continued to display his full range of shots and rack up runs while adding his flavour; piercing the gaps and running hard and occasionally dancing down the track to dispatch it down the ground. He then reached his 58th List-A hundred in 83 balls, while also completing 16,000 runs in the process. He eventually walked back caught at cover off Satyanarayana Raju. 

While Kohli did take the spotlight, Priyansh Arya (74, 44b, 7x4, 5x6) produced an entertaining innings, matching Kohli’s aggressive play while stitching a 113-run partnership. 

Arya's innings was headlined with an array of flashy cuts, lofts over mid-off and sweeps. The innings, however, ended while attempting a short-arm jab to mid-on, after reaching his first List-A fifty in just 32 balls. 

Nitish Rana (77, 55b, 9x4, 2x4), then joined Kohli and stitched a brilliant 160-run partnership. Rana, who looked a little off-colour in the first few deliveries, grew in confidence to post a quality half-century. 

After his dismissal, Rishabh Pant (5) and Ayush Badoni (1) lost their wickets cheaply as Harsh Tyagi (4 not out) and Navdeep Saini (5 not out) completed the final rites in the 38th over. 

Earlier in the day, Ricky Bhui's (122, 105b, 11x4, 7x6) genius was on full show en route to his brilliant ton while late cameos from SNDV Prasad (28) and Hemanth Reddy (27) guided Andhra to 298/8 in 50 overs. 

The 29-year-old went past the three-figure mark in 88 balls, his fourth List-A ton with a single to long off. He was also dropped by Rana on 84 off Harsh Tyagi. 

For Delhi, Simarjeet Singh (5/54) was the pick of the bowlers, while Prince Yadav (3/50) also returned with solid figures. 

Brief scores: Group D: Andhra Pradesh: 298/8 in 50 overs (SK Rasheed 31, Ricky Bhui 122, Hemanth Reddy 27, SDNV Prasad 28; Simarjeet Singh 5-54, Prince Yadav 3-50) lt to Delhi: 300/6 in 37.4 overs (Priyansh Arya 74, Virat Kohli 131, Nitish Rana 77, PVSN Raju 2-74).

Group A: Jharkhand: 412/9 in 50 overs (Shikhar Mohan 44, Virat Singh 88, Kumar Kushagra 63, Ishan Kishan 125.; Abhilash Shetty 4-72, Vidyadhar Patil 2-66, Shreyas Gopal 2-79) lt to Karnataka: 413/5 in 47.3 overs (Mayank Agarwal 54, Devdutt Padikkal 147, Karun Nair 29, Smaran R 27, Shrijith KL 38, Abhinav Manohar 56 n.o., Dhruv Prabhakar 40 n.o.; Saurabh Shekar 2-81, Utkarsh Singh 2-71). 

Kerala: 348/8 in 50 overs (Rohan Kunnummal 94, Baba Aparajith 64, Vishnu Vinod 102 n.o., Ankit Sharma 28; Manisankar Murasingh 3-72, Abhijit Sarkar 2-60, Vijay Shankar 2-57) bt Tripura: 203 all out in 36.5 overs (Tejasvi Jaiswal 40, Udiyan Bose 29, Sridam Paul 67; Amkit Sharma 2-49, Baba Aparajith 2-15).

Tamil Nadu: 310/7 in 50 overs (Sai Sudharsan 48, Narayan Jagadeesan 67, Pradosh Ranjan Paul 73, Baba Indrajith 42, Sunny Sandhu 31; Adil Ayub Thunda 2-84, Sagar Udeshi 2-42) bt Puducherry: 209 all out in 46.5 overs (Neyan Shyam Kangayan 60, Siddhant Addhatrao 37, Manimuthu Vikneshwaran 33 n.o.; Gurjapneet Singh 4-32, Sonu Yadav 2-31, Sai Kishore 2-48, Sachin Rathi 2-46). 

Madhya Pradesh: 287/5 in 50 overs (Harsh Gawli 35, Yash Dubey 105, Himanshu Mantri 30, Venkatesh Iyer 34, Shubham Sharma 42 n.o., Saransh Jain 29 n.o.) bt Rajasthan: 188 all out in 43.2 overs (Manendar Singh 60; Aryan Pandey 2-28, Kumar Karthikeya 2-43, Saransh Jain 3-37).

Plate division: Bihar: 574/6 in 50 overs (Mangal Mahrour 33, Vaibhav Suryavanshi 190, Ayush Loharuka 116, Sakibul Gani 128 n.o.; TNR Mohit 2-99, Techi Neri 2-83) bt Arunachal Pradesh: 177 all out in 42.1 overs (Techi Doria 28, Techi Neri 28, Kamsha Yangfo 32; Akash Raj 3-29, Suraj Kashyap 3-31, Himanshu Tiwari 2-33).