Unmukt Chand (51), Jagrit Anand (61) and Milind Kumar (57 not out) — all below 25 years of age — played sensible knocks scoring half-centuries to propel defending champions Delhi to a five-wicket win over Himachal Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare north zone one-dayers at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here on Monday.
Himachal Pradesh, choosing to bat, struggled throughout the match to accelerate against disciplined Delhi bowling attack and could reach a decent 230 only after all-rounder Bipul Sharma’s brisk 57-run innings off 46 balls. Delhi skipper Gautam Gambhir intelligently used part-time slow bowlers to exploit the lack of pace and bounce in the pitch.
Delhi batsmen, too, found it tough to adjust initially but displayed enough patience and took time to settle down, knowing that the target wasn’t big. Except Gambhir (14), who attempted an unnecessary late-cut and ended up in wicketkeeper’s gloves to waste the start.
After Gambhir’s departure, Jagrit, who replaced “sick” Virender Sehwag at the last moment, joined Unmukt in the middle and added a crucial 79 runs for the second wicket. It was crucial because they didn’t let the opposition take control of the game and kept the scoreboard ticking. Unmukt got out soon after completing his eighth list A half-century while attempting to loft off-spinner Gurvinder Singh over long-off. Jagrit, who was playing his first match of the season, scored his fourth fifty in eight list A matches.
last match’s top-scorer Mithun Manhas was undone by left-arm slow bowling of Abhinav Bali. But it didn’t affect Delhi’s fortunes as Milind took over the charge without much difficulty and with the help of two valuable partnerships with Jagrit and Yogesh Nagar - 49 and 67 respectively - took the hosts safely past the target with five balls to spare.
Brief Scores
Himachal Pradesh: 230 in 49.5 overs (Bipul Sharma 57, Prashant Chopra 49, Varun Sood 4/54) lost to Delhi: 234/5 in 49.1 (Unmukt Chand 51, Jagrit Anand 61, Milind Kumar 57 not out) by 5 wickets. Points: Delhi 4; HP 0.