Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017/18: Andhra Pradesh Hand Delhi Big Defeat To Qualify For Semi-Final

Andhra Pradesh (AP) put a step forward in clinching the Vijay Hazare Trophy by defeating a star-studded Delhi in the quarterfinal game, played at Palam A ground.

This was Andhra Pradesh’s seventh consecutive win in the tournament.

The day started on a positive note for them when their captain, Hanuma Vihari, called for the right side of the coin.

AP’s bowlers made merry in the conditions favoring pacers and in no time, sent back three of Delhi batsmen on 33.

This also included wickets of Gautam Gambhir and in-form batsman, Unmukt Chand.

Nitish Rana too followed them soon, and Delhi were four down for 40.

Small partnerships were stitched in the middle, and Delhi batsmen dragged the score to 97, at the loss of six wickets.

Last four batsmen managed to add 15 runs and Delhi were bowled out for 111.

The target was never going to be difficult for AP, but they too had a poor start, losing first two wickets on 11.

Before Delhi could think of a win, AP batsmen added 54 and 35 runs for third and fourth wicket respectively, thus coming close to the target.

Bodapati Sumanth and D Ravi Teja sailed AP’s boat ahead and added 12 runs to post a win.

With this, Andhra Pradesh has qualified for the semi-final of the tournament and will face either of Baroda or Saurashtra on February 25.

Looking at the form of the side, Andhra Pradesh will go as the favorites to win that tie to qualify for the final.

A defeat in this game meant an end of the season for Delhi.

The season was a good one for them as they ended runners-up of Ranji Trophy while won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Delhi ends their tourney in the second stage of the tournament.

Meanwhile, Karnataka and Maharashtra have already qualified for the semi-final.

The two teams will meet each other on February 24 in the first semi-final.

The match will be played at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium.

The winners from both the semi-final contests will meet each other in the final on May 27 at Kotla.

Brief scores: Andhra Pradesh 112/4 (Ashwin Hebbar 38, Ricky Bhui 36, Bodapati Sumanth 25*; Ishant Sharma 1-11) defeat Delhi 111/10 (Rishabh Pant 38, Dhruv Shorey 21; Duvvarapu Siva Kumar 4-29, Bhargav Bhatt 3-28) by six wickets at Palam A ground.

Other scores –

Brief scores: Saurashtra 251/7 defeat Baroda 247/8 by three wickets to qualify for the semi-final.

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Video of the day –