Vijay Hazare Trophy | Delhi makes knockouts in style

Himmat and Nitish combine to make light of big target against Rajasthan

Himmat Singh lived up to his name on Monday. He showed plenty of himmat (courage) and skills to guide Delhi to an eight-wicket victory over Rajasthan in a crucial Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day match.

Thanks to his unbeaten 117 (96b, 13×4, 1×6) and his 183-run stand for the unbroken third wicket with Nitish Rana (88 n.o., 75b, 12×4, 1×6), Delhi not just posted its fourth win of Group-D, with 5.2 overs to spare, but clinched a place in the knockout phase as well.

A 51-ball 78 from Arijit Gupta (78, 51b, 7×4, 4×6) and opener Manendar Singh’s 73 (98b, 5×4, 1×6) were the highlights of the Rajasthan innings, which ended at 294 in 48.2 overs.

Seamers Simarjit Singh and Pradeep Sangwan took seven wickets between them.

Delhi will now play the Plate winner Uttarakhand in the playoff for the last quarterfinal spot.

Mumbai, which crushed Himachal Pradesh by 200 runs, finished on top of the group. Shreyas Iyer’s men won all their five matches to qualify directly for the quarterfinals.

The skipper, for once, had a forgettable match with the bat though, as he made just two before becoming one of the four victims of pacer Rishi Dhawan.

Mumbai was in considerable bother at one stage, with the score reading 49 for four. But fine knocks from Shardul Thakur (92, 57b, 6×4, 6×60), Suryakumar Yadav (91, 75b, 15×4) and wicket-keeper Aditya Tare (83, 98b, 6×4, 1×6) helped the former champion make 321 for nine.

In reply, Rajasthan was bowled out for 121, with spinners Prashant Solanki and Shams Mulani sharing seven wickets.

In the day’s other match in the group, Maharashtra, riding on hundreds from Yash Nahar and Ankit Bawane, thrashed Pondicherry by 137 runs.

Monday’s Vijay Hazare Trophy scores

Elite D (Jaipur): Rajasthan 294 in 48.2 overs (Manender Singh 73, Shiva Chouhan 42, Arjit Gupta 78, Simarjeet Singh 4/36) lost to Delhi 296/2 in 44.4 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 44, Himmat Singh 117 n.o., Nitish Rana 88 n.o.).

Maharashtra 333/4 in 50 overs (Yash Nahar 119, Ankit Bawne 110, Rahul Tripathi 59 n.o.) bt Pondicherry 196 in 43.2 overs (Sheldon Jackson 45, Sagar Trivedi 79 n.o., Rajvardhan Hangargekar 4/45).

Mumbai 321/9 in 50 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 91, Aditya Tare 83, Shardul Thakur 92, Rishi Dhawan 4/84) bt Himachal 121 in 24.1 overs (Prashant Solanki 4/31).

Final standings: Mumbai 5-5-0-0-20 (+2.603); Delhi 5-4-1-0-16 (+0.507); Maharashtra 5-3-2-0-12 (+0.879); Rajasthan 5-1-4-0-4 (-0.900); Himachal 5-1-4-0-4 (-1.223); Pondicherry 5-1-4-0-4 (-1.880).

(Read as Played, Won, Lost, No Result, Points and NRR).

Elite E (Kolkata): Bengal 177 in 45.1 overs (Suvankar Bal 54) lost to Haryana 178/5 in 43.3 overs (Chaitanya Bishnoi 57, Shubham Rohilla 50).

Chandigarh 241 in 48.3 overs (Manan Vohra 54, Ankit Kaushik 44) lost to Jammu & Kashmir 245/2 in 34 overs (Shubham Khajuria 120, Henan Nazir 110 n.o.).

Services 301/7 in 50 overs (Rahul Singh 158, Devender Lochab 64, Pulkit Narang 43 n.o.) bt Saurashtra 233 in 43.1 overs (Snell Patel 43, Chirag Jani 68, Rahul Singh 4/45).

Final standings: Saurashtra 5-4-1-0-16 (+0.632); Chandigarh 5-3-2-0-12 (-0.572); Services 5-2-3-0-8 (+0.382); J & K 5-2-3-0-8 (+0.024); Bengal 5-2-3-0-8 (-0.171); Haryana 5-2-3-0-8 (-0.298).

Plate (Chennai): Uttarakhand 306/8 in 50 overs (Kamal Singh 119, Jay Bista 54) bt Sikkim 161/6 in 50 overs (Nilesh Lamichaney 58).

Assam 342/8 in 50 overs (Denish Das 85, Sibsankar Roy 56, Saahil Jain 86) bt Mizoram 160 in 43.5 overs (Taruwar Kohli 68, Mukhtar Hussain 4/20).

Meghalaya 303/8 in 50 overs (Rohit Shah 44, Larry Sangma 43, D.B. Ravi Teja 45, R. Sanjay Yadav 46, Abhay Negi 56 n.o.) bt Manipur 220 in 48.4 overs (M. Langlonyamba 83, R. Sanjay Yadav 4/21).

Arunachal Pradesh 285/7 in 50 overs (Rahul Dalal 138 n.o., Vipin Dhaka 56, Shrikant Mundhe 4/64) lost to Nagaland 287/3 in 42.1 overs (R. Jonathan 113, Shrikant Mundhe 102, Stuart Binny 55 n.o.).

Final standings: Uttarakhand 5-5-0-0-20 (+3.273); Assam 5-5-0-0-20 (+1.909); Meghalaya 5-4-1-0-16 (+1.110); Nagaland 5-4-1-0-16 (+0.431); Sikkim 5-1-4-0-4 (-1.137); Arunachal Pradesh 5-0-4-1-2 (-2.354); Mizoram 5-0-4-1-2 (-2.418); Manipur 5-0-5-0-0 (-1.754).

Quarterfinalists: Gujarat, Andhra, Karnataka, Mumbai, Saurashtra, UP, Kerala.

Note: For the sixth and seventh automatic qualification spots, the teams in the fray were Uttar Pradesh and Kerala, both from Elite C with 16 points, Baroda (Elite A, 16) and Delhi (Elite D, 16). Uttar Pradesh (+1.559) and Kerala (+1.244) sealed the last-eight berths on better NRR while Delhi (+0.507) pipped Baroda (+0.399) to make it to the pre-quarterfinal.

Pre-quarterfinals: March 7: Delhi vs. Uttarakhand (Plate group topper on NRR, edging Assam).

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