Delhi knock Jharkhand out

Vivek MV, Bengaluru: Dec 24, 2015, DHNS

On a day when their star player Mahendra Singh Dhoni stepped up with a dazzling performance, Jharkhand batsmen failed to complement the efforts of the seasoned campaigner. 

The Indian limited overs skipper turned the clock back with a typically composed unbeaten half-century but his lone battle couldn’t save Jharkhand from suffering a 99-run drubbing at the hands of Delhi in their Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinal encounter here at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday.  

Sent into bat, Delhi posted a respectable 225 all out in 50 overs, largely due to a measured 44 from Nitesh Rana and a quickfire unbeaten 38 from all-rounder Pawan Negi.

Jharkhand skipper Varun Aaron impressed with figures of two for 43 in his quota of 10 overs while Rahul Shukla was the most successful bowler with three for 60 in 10 overs. 
 
Delhi bowlers, led by medium pacer Subodh Bhati (4/21), wreaked havoc and skittled their rivals for a paltry 126 in 38 overs. Apart from Dhoni’s 70, none of the Jharkhand batsmen showed stomach for fight.

With this win, Delhi stormed into the semifinal, where they will face Himachal Pradesh, who upset fancied Punjab by five wickets in the other last eight clash here at the Alur (1) ground.

After a prolonged wait, Dhoni was finally back among runs. Walking in at three for nine after five overs, the 34-year-old had the task of bailing out his team from a perilous situation. Not new to the task, Dhoni began in a cautious manner. Having picked his first boundary in the 14th ball he faced, Dhoni nudged around and was looking set to go all the way.

But with wickets falling at regular intervals from the other end, Dhoni was left to do things all alone. A straight six behind the sight screen off Manan Sharma was the start of his onslaught. Much to the delight of the over 600 people at the venue, Dhoni sent another towering six off the same bowler. Continuing his dominance, the right-handed batsman showed his ability to strike the ball hard by slamming a four and two sixes off Ishant Sharma, but fans couldn’t have more of their favourite player when a dubious leg before wicket decision of number eleven batsman Vikash Singh sealed the fate of Jharkhand.

If Bhati did well to dismantle the middle order, opening bowlers Ishant (2/21) and Navdeep Saini (3/31) mounted the pressure on Jharkhand right from the start by picking early wickets.

Earlier, Delhi’s big guns Shikhar Dhawan (27) and skipper Gautam Gambhir (20) failed to fire and it was left to their lower order batsmen to produce a recovery act.
In the death overs, Negi played a blinder, striking three fours and as many sixes, to get Delhi past the 200-run mark.

Himachal score
Riding on an unbeaten 109 from Robin Bist, Himachal Pradesh thumped Punjab by five wickets.Batting first, Punjab, riding on a ton from Mandeep Singh (119), posted a sompetitive total of 263 for eight.

Himachal, however, kno­cked down the target with four balls to spare.

Brief scores: At Alur (1): Punjab: 263/8 in 50 overs (Mandeep Singh 119, Gurkeerat Mann Singh 35, Harbhajan Singh 25; Rishi Dhawan 3-60, P Jaswal 3-50) lt to Himachal Pradesh: 266/5 in 49.2 overs (Robin Bist 109, PK Dogra 32, Rishi Dhawan 41, Nikhil Gangta 39; Siddharth Kaul 3-42).