Vijay Hazare Trophy: QF, Day 1 - Dhoni, Ishant, and Rishi Dhawan shine, as Delhi oust Jharkhand and Himachal beat Punjab
Quarter-final 1: Delhi v Jharkhand
Delhi put up a spirited performance on a green and lively Chinnaswamy pitch, to march on towards the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015-16 by beating Jharkhand by 99 runs, despite MS Dhoni’s return to form with a sublime knock of 70.
Batting first after losing the toss, Delhi put up a modest total of 225 on the board but bowled brilliantly to defend it, as the Jharkhand batsman struggled to get to double figures.
For Delhi, Nitish Rana and Pawan Negi scored 44 and 38 respectively, with Negi being the aggressor towards the end of the innings with 3 fours and as many sixes to guide his side to a total of some respectability.
Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant gave Delhi a good start with a 53-run partnership first up, but Varun Aaron and Ankit Dabas brought Jharkhand back in the game by dismissing the openers. Gautam Gambhir was then run out after a 30-run partnership with Unmukt Chand before Milind was cleaned up second-ball by Aaron.
The Jharkhand captain then struck again to dismiss Chand thereby reducing the opposition to 100/5. Rana and Manan Sharma thereafter revived the innings from the brief collapse and put up a 74-run partnership for the sixth wicket, which proved out to be a match-winning one in the end.
Sharma fell in the 45th over, but Negi, who came out to replace him played an unbeaten cameo in the final overs making 38 runs from just 16 balls to push the total past 200.
In reply, Jharkhand never looked in the hunt as they kept losing wickets right from the first over when Ishank Jaggi was bowled by Navdeep Saini. Ishant Sharma uprooted the stumps of Ishan Kishan in the third over to reduce them to 2/2.
Kumar Deobrat was then caught at short-leg by Rana off Ishant as Jharkhand slumped to 9/3. Saini got Saurabh Tiwari next, caught by Chand, to break the back of the opposition’s top-order. There wasn’t much to talk about after that as Pawan Negi and Subodh Bhati did the rest for Delhi by cleaning up the rest of the Jharkhand batsmen.
The only positive from this match for Jharkhand and India at large was the Indian limited-overs captain MS Dhoni who showed glimpses of form when he hoisted a couple of sixes off Manan Sharma and pulled Ishant Sharma for two more and a boundary while playing attacking cricket towards the end of the innings during his unbeaten knock of 70.
Another key takeaway was Ishant who warmed up for the tour down under with excellent figures of 7-4-21-2
With this win, Delhi has qualified for the semi-final of the tournament, one of which will also be held at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, followed by the final on December 28.
Brief Scores: Delhi 225 (Rana 44, Rahul Shukla 3/60) beat Jharkhand (toss) 126 (Dhoni 70*, Bhati 4/21) by 99 runs.
Quarter-final 2: Punjab v Himachal Pradesh
In the other quarter-final between Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, Himachal planned their chase of 264 perfectly as Robin Bist’s century booked their berth in the semi-finals and drew the curtains down on Yuvraj Singh’s and Punjab’s campaign.
Having been put into bat after losing the toss, Punjab's Mandeep Singh continued his sublime domestic season with a brilliant century to set up and guide his team's innings. Gurkeerat Mann, Mayank Siddana, Gitansh Khera and Harbhajan Singh all chipped in with 20s and 30s, with Harbhajan getting his 25 off just 13 balls which included three sixes.
For Himachal, Rishi Dhawan and PP Jaswal took three wickets each, while RK Singh got one scalp.
Chasing a challenging total, Himachal were always in contention with Robin Bist, PK Dogra and Dhawan leading their run chase. Bist batted exceptionally well for his unbeaten 109 being helped along by NR Gangta’s 28-ball 39 that included three sixes.
Although the match finished in the final over, Himachal always had the required rate under control and won the game easily by 5 wickets.
Brief Scores: Himachal Pradesh (toss) 266/5 (Bist 109*, Kaul 3/38) beat Punjab 263/8 (Mandeep 119, Rishi Dhawan 3/60) by 5 wickets.