Delhi beat Himachal as Sehwag pulls out
NEW DELHI: An improved batting display by Delhi helped them beat Himachal Pradesh by five wickets in their third Vijay Hazare Trophy match at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Monday.
Interestingly, the out-of-form Virender Sehwag pulled out of the game at the last minute citing health issues.
Half centuries from Unmukt Chand (51), Jagrit Anand (61) and Milind Kumar (57) saw Delhi chase down the target of 231 with five balls to spare. Delhi made three changes to their squad with Jagrit Anand, Yogesh Nagar and Ishant Sharma replacing Sehwag, injured all-rounder Rajat Bhatia and pacer Sumit Narwal.
Gautam Gambhir (14) started well but threw his wicket away when he edged a wide delivery to wicketkeeper Ankush Bains off Rishi Dhawan. Anand joined Chand at the crease and the duo added 79 runs for the second wicket.
The bowling pair of Dhawan and Vikramjeet Malik troubled the Delhi batsman and did not allow them to break free. Chand was watchful at the start and took some time to get going. He hit three fours and a six during his innings.
Anand and Milind Kumar later shared a 49-run partnership for the fourth wicket before Milind and Nagar (31), he saw his team through.
Earlier, Himachal Pradesh decided to bat first after winning the toss and put up 230 on the board thanks to a heroic effort by Bipul Sharma, who scored 57 off 46 balls. Prahant Chopra (49) was the other top scorer for Himachal. Varun Sood cleaned up the tail and finished with figures of 4/54.
Sehwag pulled out of Monday’s match amid speculation that the decision could have been prompted by poor form. The official reason given was “sickness”.
