Vijay Hazare Trophy: Kohli, Pant hit fifties as Delhi edge Gujarat by seven runs in thrilling clash

New Delhi, Dec 26 (IANS) Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant struck contrasting fifties before Gujarat collapsed in the closing stages as Delhi claimed a narrow seven-run victory in their Elite Group D encounter of the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Centre of Excellence (CoE) Ground in Bengaluru on Friday.

Kohli aggressive 77 off 61 balls and Pant measured 70 off 79 deliveries lifted Delhi to 254/9 in 50 overs. In reply, despite being well-positioned at 213/5, Gujarat chase faltered in the final stages and were bowled out for 247 in 47.4 overs.

Kohli exhibited his trademark fluency after arriving at the crease following the early dismissal of opener Priyansh Arya. He raced to his half-century off just 29 balls in a knock laced with 10 fours and a six before falling to left-arm spinner Vishal Jayswal for 77.

Pant, Delhi’s captain, anchored the middle-order with an uncharacteristic display of restraint and showed his trademark aggression after reaching his fifty. His 73-run partnership with Harsh Tyagi (40) proved crucial before Jayswal claimed his fourth wicket and finished with 4-42.

Gujarat appeared comfortable in their chase thanks to solid partnerships of 67 between Urvil Patel (31) and Aarya Desai (57), and then for 54 runs between Aarya and Abhishek Desai. But a middle-order collapse saw Gujarat lose four wickets for 23 runs. Saurabh Chauhan (49 off 43) and Jayswal added 69 for the sixth wicket to revive the chase, but Simarjeet Singh dismissal of Chauhan triggered another collapse.

With 12 runs needed off 17 balls and one wicket remaining, Prince Yadav (3-37) dismissed Ravi Bishnoi with a sharp delivery, with the catch taken by Kohli, as Delhi sealed a thrilling victory.

Meanwhile, Odisha pacer Rajesh Mohanty became the first player from his state to claim a hat-trick in List A cricket as his side comfortably defeated Services by four wickets at Alur Cricket Stadium III.

Mohanty first dismissed opener Sagar Dahiya before trapping Amit Shukla and Ravi Chauhan lbw in consecutive deliveries to complete the hat-trick and reduce Services to 21/3. He finished with figures of 4-25 as Services were bowled out for 83 in 21.5 overs, which Odisha chased down easily.

Brief scores:

Delhi: 254/9 in 50 overs (Virat Kohli 77, Rishabh Pant 70; Vishal Jayswal 4/42) beat Gujarat 247 all out in 47.4 overs (Aarya Desai 57, Saurabh Chauhan 49; Prince Yadav 3-37, Ishant Sharma 2-28) by seven runs

Services 83 all out in 21.5 overs (Rajesh Mohanty 4-25, Sambit Baral 4-21) lost to Odisha 84/6 in 24.3 overs (Sandeep Pattnaik 32 not out) by four wickets

Railways 266/9 in 50 overs (Ravi Singh 76, Ansh Yadav 59; Satyanarayana Raju 3-41, Narasimha Raju 3-68) lost to Andhra 271/4 in 44.4 overs (Ricky Bhui 76, Nitish Kumar Reddy 55 not out; Karn Sharma 3-46) by six wickets

Saurashtra: 253 all out in 50 overs (Harvik Desai 101, Sammar Gajjar 83; Anshul Kamboj 3-30) lost to Haryana: 256/4 in 39 overs (Yashvardhan Dalal 164 not out, Parth Vats 67; Ankur Panwar 3-51) by six wickets

--IANS

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