A file photograph of Unmukt Chand
Young Himmat Singh smashed his maiden List A ton as Delhi comfortably beat Andhra by 73 runs in a group B encounter of the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Tuesday. With this victory, Delhi took a big stride towards quarter-final berth from the group as they now lead the points table with 18 from six games.
It was Himmat's unbeaten 75-ball-102, laced with nine fours and four sixes, that made the difference as Delhi scored 314 for 5 after being put into bat. Unmukt Chand (62) and Nitish Rana (52) also helped themselves to half centuries.
In reply, Andhra managed 241 all out in 49.5 overs with a collective effort from the bowlers.
Left-arm seamer Kulwant Khejroliya (2/29 in 6 overs), Pawan Negi (2/41 in 10 overs) and Nitish Rana (2/9 in 2 overs) did bulk of the damage.
Earlier, Delhi started in a whirlwind fashion with Chand and Gambhir adding 75 runs for the opening stand. After his brilliant 151 against Kerala, skipper Gambhir scored 37 while Chand's 62 off 80 balls had nine fours and a six.
However, left-handed Rana and Himmat added 97 runs in 14.4 overs. Rana's run-a-ball 52 had two fours and three huge sixes.
Once Pranshu Vijayaran (8) was dismissed, Himmat upped the ante in company of Lalit Yadav (23 off 14 balls) as the duo added 56 in 5.3 overs to take Delhi past 300-run mark.
India discard Karn Sharma was the bowler who suffered most in the hands of Rana-Himmat pair as he went for 94 runs in 10 wicket-less overs.
Andhra were never in the chase as Gambhir used as many as eight bowlers.
DB Prashanth (54 off 69 balls) was the only significant scorer for Andhra. Former India U-19 captain Ricky Bhui contributed 48 while India prospect Kona Bharat (2) was trapped leg-before by Khejroliya.
Brief Scores:
Group B
Delhi 314/5 (Himmat Singh 102 no off 75 balls, Nitish Rana 52 off 52 balls, Unmukt Chand 62 off 80 balls)
Andhra 241 (DB Prashanth 54, Ricky Bhui 48, Kulwant Khejroliya 2/29).
Delhi won by 73 runs.
Chattisgarh 212 in 49.5 overs (Harpreet Bhatia 43, Anurag Sarangi 3/22)
Odisha 164 in 41 overs (Biplab Samantray 38, Pankaj Rao 3/15). Chattisgarh won by 48 runs.
Kerala 189/6 (VA Jagadeesh 62 off 92 balls, Vishnu Vinod 34 off 22 balls, PS Sairam 2/22)
Hyderabad 190/3 in 46.4 overs (K Rohit Rayudu 57 no off 86 balls, BP Sandeep 48 off 91 balls, Jalaj Saxena 2/22). Hyderabad won by 7 wickets.
In Bengaluru, Mumbai continued their ruthless showin the Vijay Hazare Trophy, as they hammered Goa by seven wickets in their Elite Group A clash.
After bundling out Goa for a paltry 186, Mumbai chased the target losing only three wickets in the process and in 36 overs with opener Akhil Herwadkar (108 not out) starring in the team's dominant victory.
Mumbai have not lost any of the matches in the ongoing national One-Day tournament so far, and at the Just Cricket ground here, their bowlers rose to the occasion.
With this win, Mumbai are on course to make it to the next round.
Experienced medium pacer Dhawal Kulkarni (3-32) led from the front as Goa lost wickets at regular intervals.
Kulkarni was ably supported by Royston Dias (2-36), Shams Mulani (2-31) and Shivam Dube (2-36).
For Goa, lower-middle order batsman Suyash Prabhudesai showed some resistance with a gritty 52, that helped his side pass the 175-run mark.
Amit Verma (49) too chipped in, but other than these two no batsman could deliver for their side.
The chase was led by Herwadkar.
He struck 11 fours and had four other hits over the fence in his 112-ball knock.
Mumbai slumped to 95-3, but then Siddhesh Lad (26 not out) supported Harwadkar as the two took the side home without much fuss.
In another Elite Group A match,at neighbouring Alur, wicket-keeper-batsman Akshay Wadkar scored an unbeaten 82 to help Vidarbha defeat Maharashtra by three wickets, with just four balls to spare.
And at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here, Gurkeerat Manns hundred helped Punjab defeat Railways by 58 runs via the VJD method.
Veteran Yuvraj Singh (96) also played his part to perfection to contribute to his teams win.
Summarised Scores: Goa 186 all out in 49.5 overs (Suyash Prabhudesai 52, Amit Verma 49, Dhawal Kulkarni 3-32) lost to Mumbai 189/3 in 35.3 overs (Akhil Herwadkar 108 not out, Siddesh Lad 36 not out, Krishna Das 2-31) by seven wickets.
Maharashtra 205/8 in 50 overs (Ankit Bawne 62, Ruturaj Gaikwad 32, Sanjay Ramaswamy 2-20) lost to Vidarbha 206/7 in 49.2 overs ( Akshay Wadkar 82 not out, Darshan Nalkande 53 not out, Samad Fallah 2-33) by three wickets.
Punjab 284/6 in 50 overs (Gurkeerat Mann 101, Yuvraj Singh 96, Chandrakant Sakure 3-85) beat Railways 210 all out in 44.3 overs (Saurabh Wakaskar 104, Manish Rao 30, Mayank Markande 3-40) by 58 runs via VJD method.
In Vadodara, Taruwar Kohli produced a hat-trick in a career-best six-wicket haul but that proved insufficient as Uttarakhand thrashed Mizoram by 152 runs in a Plate group fixture.
Opener Karna Veer Kaushal hammered a 86-ball 118 (14x4, 4x6) to set the tone for Uttarakhand's 321 as their innings folded in the last ball of the innings with Taruwar (6/65) finishing the proceedings with a hat-trick.
Saurabh Rawat (61) and Mayank Mishra who scored a quickfire 28-ball 41 not out (3x4, 1x6) also contributed handsomely as Mizoram ran for covers after opting to bowl at the Moti Bagh Stadium here.
The huge target was never easy for Mizoram who folded for 169 in 48.4 overs with number seven batsman Sinan Khadir waging a lone battle with his 73 not out.
This was Uttarakhand's fifth win in a row as they remained two points behind leaders Bihar (22) in the group standings with two matches left for each of them.
One team from the Plate group will make the quarterfinals.
Sikkim capped another miserable outing to suffer their sixth defeat on the trot, the latest coming against Puducherry who cruised to a nine-wicket win at the GS Patel Staium in Nadiad.
Off-spinner Fabid Ahmed returned with scintillating figures of 9.2-2-8-5 to make life difficult for Sikkim batsmen as their innings folded for 89 in 43.2 overs.
At the Shastri Maidan in Anand, KB Pawan (112) and Hokaito Zhimomi (72 not out) put on a match-winning 101 runs partnership as Nagaland beat Arunachal Pradesh by six wickets.
Arunachal put on board a challenging 271/4 with Kshitiz Sharma and Akhilesh Sahani starring with centuries but Pawan and Zhimomi held their nerves to chase down the target with 36 balls to spare.
Brief Scores
At Anand: Arunachal Pradesh 271/4; 50 overs (Khitiz Sharma 109, Akhilesh Sahani 102 not out) lost to Nagaland 272/4; 44 overs (KB Pawan 112, Hokaito Zhimomi 72 not out; Sandeep Thakur 3/52) by six wickets.
At Nadiad: Sikkim 89; 43.2 overs (Fabid Ahmed 5/8, AM Narayanan 3/21) lost to Puducherry 92/1; 15.2 overs (D Rohit 38, Narayanan 35 not out) by nine wickets.
At Vadodara: Uttarakhand 321; 50 overs (Karna Veer Kaushal 118, Saurabh Rawat 61, Mayank Mishra 41 not out; Taruwar Kohli 6/65) beat Mizoram 169; 48.4 overs (Sinan Khadir 73 not out; Vaibhav Bhatt 3/28) by 152 runs.
