Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017/18: Sangwan, Shorey, Hiten Lead Delhi to Top the Table

For the third time in the tournament, Delhi batsmen led carnage in the Vijay Hazare Trophy to lead their side to a comfortable victory.

Today, Delhi was up against Maharashtra, in the race to top the points table.

Delhi was bolstered by the presence of Ishant Sharma, who replaced Kulwant Khejroliya in the playing XI.

After winning the toss, Ishant chose to bowl first. However, the decision seemed to be going against Delhi, as Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Vijay Zol provided a flying start to their team.

They seemed all set to keep Delhi wicketless in the first ten overs of the game before vice-captain, Pradeep Sangwan, delivered a relief when he dismissed Gaikwad on 41.

Few overs later, he delivered another glory in the form of Rahul Tripathi to bring Delhi back in the game. Zol and Ankit Bawane seemed to be under pressure after falling of two wickets and soon, Delhi pounced on the opportunity.

Nitish Rana provided the third wicket to Delhi in the form of Bawane and from there, Pawan Negi took charge.

The left-arm spinner scalped three wickets in a spell to shorten Maharashtra from 116/6 to 148/6. On the one hand, wickets continued to fall while on the other hand, Zol stayed firm and slowed down a bit.

He was finally dismissed by Sangwan on 41 when Maharashtra was reeling at 172/6. The chances of the Rahul Tripathi-led side reaching 200 looked hard, but Shamshuzama Kazi played a knock of 59 to stretch the team’s score to 246.

Delhi openers had a task on their hand, but this time, they didn’t provide a good start, as Unmukt Chand was dismissed on a score of one.

This has had no impact on Hiten Dalal, who continued his form. The 23-year old, who made his List A debut in the first game of the tournament, stayed calm and in the company of Dhruv Shorey, put the team right behind the target.

Both the youngsters tackled the new ball nicely and didn’t give any opportunity to Maharastra to make a comeback n the game.

These two shared 138 runs for the second wicket to put Delhi on the brink of the win. However, Hiten again missed an opportunity to score his maiden hundred, as he was dismissed on 87 by Shrikant Mundhe,

Shorey, though, touched the three-figure mark and remained unbeaten on 103*. He was well supported by Nitish Rana in the end, who also continue his good form by playing an innings of 49* off 52.

With this win, Delhi has become the top placed team in Group B, dethroning Maharashtra from the top. Delhi will face Bengal in their next contest on February 11 while Maharashtra will be up against Himachal Pradesh on February 13, in their next game of the tournament.

Brief scores: Delhi 250/2 (Dhruv Shorey 103*, Hiten Dalal 87, Nitish Rana 49*; Anupam Sanklecha 1-44) defeat Maharashtra 246/10 (Shamshuzama 59, Vijay Zol 46, Ruturaj Gaikwad 41; Pradeep Sangwan 5-41, Pawan Negi 3-40) by eight wickets.

Other scores –

Brief scores: Rajasthan 272/4 defeat Mumbai 268/8 by six wickets.

Brief scores: Chhattisgarh 251/8 defeat Jammu and Kashmir 246/10 by five runs

Brief scores: Vidarbha 267/9 defeat Services 250/9 by 17 runs.

Brief scores: Hyderabad 278/6 defeat Saurashtra 277/7 by four wickets.

Brief scores: Uttar Pradesh 329/4 defeat Bengal 322/10 by seven runs.

Brief scores: Madhya Pradesh 303/2 defeat Tamil Nadu 302/9 by eight wickets.

Andhra Prades: 191/9 defeat Goa 188/10 by one wicket.