Milind Kumar struck his second consecutive unbeaten half-century for Delhi to help his team beat Haryana by six wickets in the Vijay Hazare north zone one-dayers at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here on Wednesday.
Victory put defending champions Delhi on second position in the points table; although Delhi are tied on points with Punjab (table toppers) and Services, net run-rate separates them. Delhi play Services in their final league encounter on Thursday and the winner would qualify for the knock-out round to be held in Kolkata from March 11. Punjab are almost certain to qualify if they avoid a big defeat in their next match against Himachal Pradesh on Thursday.
Haryana, asked to bat, posted a weak total of 200 at the loss of six wickets. They looked in deep trouble 109 for 6 but thanks to an unbroken 91-run partnership between Bhupinder lingwal (51 not out) and Sonu Rathee (39 not out) for the seventh wicket, Haryana managed a respectable total.
They even got off to a good start when Mohit Sharma removed Unmukt Chand off the very first ball. Though it was a debatable decision as the ball seemed to have taken the inside edge of the bat before hitting the front pad, it gave Haryana a platform to build on. Joginder Sharma and Harshal Patel too contributed with a wicket each by removing Gautam Gambhir (20) and Jagrit Anand (10) to reduce Delhi to 41 for 3.
After that, Milind (70 not out) shared two crucial partnerships with Mithun Manhas (68) and Punit Bisht (26 not out) — 96 and unbroken 66 respectively — and saw his team past the target with 23 balls to spare. Initially Milind played second fiddle to senior partner Manhas operating in singles and doubles but once Bisht joined him in the middle with another 64 runs left, he took over the charge and showed his aggressive side too hitting a couple of lofty yet attractive shots.
Brief Scores
Haryana: 200/6 in 50 overs (Bhupinder lingwal 51, Rahul Dewan 49, Sonu Rathee 39; Sumit Narwal 2/30, Pawan Negi 2/41) lost to Delhi: 203/4 in 46.1 overs (Milind Kumar 70*, Mithun Manhas 68) by six wickets.