Vijay Hazare Trophy, 1st semi-final: Unmukt Chand drives Delhi into the final

The first semi-final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015 between Delhi and Himachal Pradesh resulted in an effortless victory for the team from the national capital. Delhi faced no problems in qualifying for the finals as they chased down the simple target of 201 put forth by Himachal Pradesh.

Himachal batted first after losing the toss and had a bad start as they lost their opener Ankush Bains in the fifth over. Himachal played slow and could reach only 28 at the end of 10 overs. A few balls later, Robin Bist, who played a match-winning knock of 109 in the quarterfinal, was out for six. It was a big disappointment for Himachal Pradesh.

Prashant Chopra and Paras Dogra stood there in the middle for a 45 runs partnership. However, this partnership was broken before it could have any major impact on the Himachal scoreboard. The set Chopra (33) was dismissed by Subodh Bhati. Pawan Negi then struck in back to back overs to send new batsman Rishi Dhawan and Paras back to the dressing room. Bipul Sharma’s quickfire 45-ball 51 and small contributions from Nikhil Gangta (13) and Mayank Dagar (21) helped the crumbling Himachal Pradesh innings post 200 at the end of 50 overs.

A spot in the final looked almost assured for Delhi as the target of 201 looked undefendable in front of the batting line-up they had. Delhi opened with 18-year-old Rishabh Pant and India opener, Shikhar Dhawan. The opening pair did not contribute much. The short 32 runs opening partnership was broken by Ronit More who dismissed Pant for just 18 runs. Unmukt Chand was out in the middle as a result of this wicket. Both Dhawan and Chand batted well together and stitched a 51-run partnership to take the Delhi innings forward. But, left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma found the breakthrough after he clean bowled Dhawan (39). It was for the third consecutive time that Dhawan failed to convert his patient start into a respectable score.

Skipper Gambhir (16) and Milind Kumar (10) could not continue with Chand for very long. Chand was batting very dominatingly and took care that the run flow was unaffected because of the two wickets which Delhi lost in the middle overs. Nitish Rana (19) knew his work very well and provided good support to Unmukt Chand. Rana mostly played out the deliveries and rotated strike to Chand who was hitting the occasional balls for boundaries.

Unmukt Chand remained unbeaten on 80 and saw his team cruise to the final. It was because of Chand’s brilliant innings that Delhi faced no pressure at all while chasing and won the match by 6 wickets and 9.5 overs remaining in hand.

As a result of this comprehensive win, Delhi will be facing Gujarat for the Vijay Hazare Trophy final in a day-night clash at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on 28th December 2015.

Brief Scores:

Himachal Pradesh: 200/9 in 50 overs (Bipul Sharma 51; Subodh Bhati 2/36)

Delhi: 201/4 in 41.1 overs  (Unmukt Chand 80; Nikhil Gangta 1/14)

Man of the Match: Unmukt Chand