Delhi beat Punjab by 5 runs, HP lose

Vadodara, October 14

Lalit Yadav led the lower middle-order fightback with an unbeaten half-century before spinners joined the party as Delhi managed to upstage Punjab by five runs in their Group B match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Coming in to bat at 115/5, Yadav emerged as the top-scorer for Delhi with an unbeaten 53-ball 54 as he steered the team to a respectable 220/8 in their stipulated 50 overs.

Chasing the total, Anmolpreet Singh (73) kept Punjab in the hunt but the team eventually managed 215/9. Navdeep Saini rocked the the top-order, removing openers Abhishek Sharma (36) and Sanvir Singh (1), before the spin troika of Pawan Negi (2/40), Nitish Rana (2/34) and Lalit Yadav (2/22) produced regular breakthroughs to derail Punjab’s chase. Manan Sharma (1/38) also scalped one wicket.

Earlier, Siddarth Kaul produced a superb five-wicket haul as he removed openers Shikhar Dhawan (10) and K Bidhuri (8) and then returned to dismiss three more lower-order batsmen. 

Baroda eked out a two-wicket win over Himachal Pradesh in a low-scoring match. Put in to bat, HP were bundled out for 161 in 44 overs. Baroda overhauled the target, scoring 165/8 in 34.5 overs, courtesy an unbeaten 85-ball 66 by Swapnil Singh.

Brief Scores: (Match 1):Delhi: 220/8 in 50 overs (L Yadav 54; S Kaul 5/48); Punjab: 215/9 in 50 overs (A Singh 73; L Yadav 2/22); (Match 2): HP: 161 all out in 44 overs (N Gangta 46; B Bhatt 3/24); Baroda: 165/8 in 34.5 overs (S Singh 66; A Bedi 3/43); (Match 3): J&K: 279/8 in 50 overs (A Samad 68, S Khajuria 66, P Rasool 49; R Kalaria 2/34); Gujarat: 282/2 in 37.3 overs (P Panchal 135*, B Merai 70*, P Patel 63)  — PTI