Delhi three-wicket win over Saurashtra

Opener Priyansh Arya and Tejasvi Dahiya made aggressive fifties as Delhi rose above skipper Rishabh Pant’s ordinary outing to beat Saurashtra by three wickets in a Group D match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Monday. Chasing 321, Arya (78, 45 balls) and Tejasvi (53, 51b) did the heavy lifting for a Virat Kohli-less Delhi as they romped home in 48.5 overs losing seven wickets at Alur 2 grounds.

Saurashtra made a challenging 320 for seven in 50 overs, courtesy a 115 (104b) by opener Vishvarajsinh Jadeja and an unbeaten 65-ball 95 by Ruchit Ahir. Kohli had played a stellar role in Delhi’s win in the first two matches, scoring a hundred and fifty. The star batter is set to rejoin the team on January 6 for the match against Railways at the BCCI Centre of Excellence. 

Pant could not make a heavy contribution, getting out for a 26-ball 22. The left-hander gave a catch to Jay Gohil off Chirag Jani. But his teammates more than made-up for Pant’s lapse and their talisman Kohli’s absence. Arya was involved in a 66-run alliance for the second wicket with Ayush Doseja before falling to Chetan Sakarya.  

Delhi was 115 for two then in 13.2 overs and despite losing wickets at regular intervals they did not allow the asking rate to spiral out of control. Tejasvi was involved in two crucial stands after Delhi found themselves at 160 for four — 48 for the fifth wicket with Pant and 40 for the next wicket with Harsh Tyagi.

When Tejasvi was consumed by Ankur Pawar, Delhi still needed 73 runs in 12 overs with four wickets in hand. But Tyagi (49, 45b) and Navdeep Saini (34 not out) knocked off those runs during their doughty seventh wicket alliance to give Delhi valuable four points from the game.

They are now leading Group D with 12 points from three games.  Earlier, Jadeja led Saurashtra’s charge with two substantial partnerships — 79 for the second with Gajjar Sammar (41), and 80 for the sixth wicket with Ahir. For Delhi, pacer Saini also shone with the ball, taking three wickets for 41 runs off his 10 overs.

Brief scores

Saurashtra: 320/7 in 50 overs (Vishvarajsinh Jadeja 115, Ruchit Ahit 95 not out; Navdeep Saini 3/41) lost to Delhi: xxx (Priyansh Arya 78, Tejasvi Dahiya 53, Harsh Tyagi 49, Navdeep Saini 34 not out; Chirag Jani 2/51) by 3 wickets.

Andhra: 221 all out in 49.2 overs (SDNV Prasad 66, Saurabh Kumar 47; Biplab Samantray 3/36, Govinda Poddar 3/36) lost to Odisha: 223/4 in 43.4 overs (Govinda Poddar 89, Om T Munda 91; Satyanarayana Raju 2/49) by 6 wickets.

Railways: 365/7 in 50 overs (Pratham Singh 73, Ravi Singh 88, Ashutosh Sharma 50, Zubair Ali 48 not out; Pulkit Narang 2/43) beat Services: 281 all out in 47.2 overs (Sagar Dahiya 95, Ravi Chauhan 73; Raj Choudhary 3/27, Zubair Ali 2/46) by 84 runs.

Haryana: 299 all out in 50 overs (Mayank Shandilya 86, HJ Rana 57, Samant Jakhar 49; Arzan Nagawaswalla 3/69, Harshal Patel 3/69) beat Gujarat: 273 all out in 47.1 overs (Jaymeet Patel 67, Vishal Jayswal 51, Ravi Bishnoi 40; Anshul Kamboj 3/49) by 26 runs.

VIRAT Kohli to play January 6 game for Delhi, says DDCA chief

New Delhi: Star India batter Virat Kohli will play Delhi’s Vijay Hazare Trophy game against the Railways on January 6 at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (COE) in Bengaluru, DDCA President Rohan Jaitley said on Monday. The BCCI diktat for all centrally-contracted players was to take part in at least two Vijay Hazare games but Kohli wants to play a third match as he gears up for the home series against New Zealand this month.

“As of now, he is playing. Virat have given his availability for three games,” Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) President Rohan Jaitley said.Kohli was in good form in the first two games for Delhi, smashing 131 and 77 respectively. In the process, he also became the fastest to 16,000 List A runs by reaching the milestone in his 330th innings, surpassing the iconic Sachin Tendulkar, who touched the landmark in 391 innings. 

A BCCI source said that while the Indian ODI squad for the New Zealand series is assembling in Vadodara by January 8, there is a possibility that Kohli might arrive a day earlier and train. The three-match ODI series against the Black Caps will begin at the same venue on January 11.

Meanwhile, as PTI had reported earlier, star all-rounder Hardik Pandya and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will be rested from the ODIs as per their workload management routine created by the sports science team. The two will be crucial for India during the home T20 World Cup starting on February 7.