Vijay Hazare Trophy
GROUP D
Bengaluru, Dec 29: Opener Priyansh Arya and Tejasvi Dahiya made aggressive fifties as Delhi rose above skipper Rishabh Pant’s ordinary outing to beat Saurashtra by three wickets in a Group D match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Monday.
Chasing 321, Arya (78, 45 balls) and Tejasvi (53, 51b) did the heavy lifting for a Virat Kohli-less Delhi as they romped home in 48.5 overs losing seven wickets at Alur 2 grounds.
Saurashtra made a challenging 320 for seven in 50 overs, courtesy a 115 (104b) by opener Vishvarajsinh Jadeja and an unbeaten 65-ball 95 by Ruchit Ahir.
Kohli had played a stellar role in Delhi’s win in the first two matches, scoring a hundred and fifty. The star batter is set to rejoin the team on January 6 for the match against Railways at the BCCI Centre of Excellence.
Pant could not make a heavy contribution, getting out for a 26-ball 22. The left-hander gave a catch to Jay Gohil off Chirag Jani.
But his teammates more than made-up for Pant’s lapse and their talisman Kohli’s absence. Arya was involved in a 66-run alliance for the second wicket with Ayush Doseja before falling to Chetan Sakarya.Delhi was 115 for two then in 13.2 overs and despite losing wickets at regular intervals they did not allow the asking rate to spiral out of control.Tejasvi was involved in two crucial stands after Delhi found themselves at 160 for four — 48 for the fifth wicket with Pant and 40 for the next wicket with Harsh Tyagi.
When Tejasvi was consumed by Ankur Pawar, Delhi still needed 73 runs in 12 overs with four wickets in hand.But Tyagi (49, 45b) and Navdeep Saini (34 not out) knocked off those runs during their doughty seventh wicket alliance to give Delhi valuable four points from the game.They are now leading Group D with 12 points from three games.
Earlier, Jadeja led Saurashtra’s charge with two substantial partnerships — 79 for the second with Gajjar Sammar (41), and 80 for the sixth wicket with Ahir.
For Delhi, pacer Saini also shone with the ball, taking three wickets for 41 runs off his 10 overs.
Brief scores: Saurashtra: 320/7 in 50 overs (Vishvarajsinh Jadeja 115, Ruchit Ahit 95 not out; Navdeep Saini 3/41) lost to Delhi: xxx (Priyansh Arya 78, Tejasvi Dahiya 53, Harsh Tyagi 49, Navdeep Saini 34 not out; Chirag Jani 2/51) by 3 wickets. (PTI)
