Unmukt Chand’s eighty powers Delhi to Hazare Trophy final

Brief Scores:

Delhi vs Himachal Pradesh:Himachal Pradesh 200/9 in 50 overs lost to Delhi 201/4 in 41.1 overs

After winning the toss, Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir opted to field on a pitch, which has been assisting the bowlers. Himachal openers Ankush Bains and Prashant Chopra started the innings cautiously against Delhi’s Ishant Sharma and Navdeep Saini, before Bains fell for six to a throw from Gambhir. Robin Bist followed Bains back to the dressing room shortly after his arrival to put the onus on Chopra and Paras Dogra to take the innings forward. The duo departed after adding 45 runs to the total to take Himachal closer to the century mark.

The batting never took off after that as Himachal kept losing wickets at regular intervals to struggle at 131 for seven. With his team in a spot of bother, captain Bipul Sharma and debutant Mayank Dagar put together a 57-run partnership to take Himachal to some respectability. With overs running out, the duo went for the big shots and finished the innings for a paltry total of 200/9 in 50 overs.

Chasing a target of 201, Delhi openers Rishabh Pant and Shikhar Dhawan put together 32 runs for the opening partnership before Pant fell to Ronit More for 18. Unmukt Chand joined Dhawan in the middle, and the duo added 61 runs for the second wicket to take Delhi closer the hundred mark. After Dhawan’s departure for 39, Delhi suffered a minor collapse with captain Gambhir and Milind Kumar falling cheaply. All-rounder Nitish Rana and Unmukt Chand, however, steadied the innings thereafter and took the team to victory without any more departures. Chand remained unbeaten on 80 from 86 balls, which included 7 fours and two sixes.

Delhi will face Gujarat in the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Monday.  

Other scores:

Gujarat vs Tamil Nadu:Gujarat 248/8 in 50 overs defeated Tamil Nadu 217 all-out in 47.3 overs