Delhi scored 265 for five and bundled out Punjab for just 130 in the North Zone leg of the National One-Day Championship for the Vijay Hazare Trophy to earn their second bonus point from two matches. Delhi now tops the point table with 10 points.
Invited to bat first on a damp pitch, Delhi batsmen couldn’t cope with the new ball. They lost three quick wickets — opener Unmukt Chand in the first over, debutant Manan Sharma in eighth and Shikhar Dhawan in 15th — for just 42 runs.
The hosts were staring at another blow coming their way when their most experienced batsman Mithun Manhas (was on 8) lobbed Manpreet Gony, only five balls later, straight into the hands of Mayank Sidana at mid-wicket. Sidana spilled the chance. They dropped Manhas two more times — by Gony in 32nd over and by Sidana in 37th over.
In Gony’s next over (17th), Punit Bisht (was on 1) slashed a ball just outside the off-stump to Mandeep Singh at gully and he also spilled it. To be fair to Mandeep, it was a tough chance but the ball touched both of his hands.
With those catches at crucial time, the Harbhajan Singh-led Punjab side virtually lost the footing in the match as Manhas (60) and Bisht (73) added 111 runs for the fourth wicket to lay a foundation for a lower-order onslaught.
Manhas and Bisht played well in testing circumstances and carried the team through to a secured position. Initially, they didn’t shy away from playing dot balls and waited for loose balls to score runs. After 25 overs, Delhi were only 66 for three. But once they got the hang of the wicket, the duo accelerated the scoring rate with a mix of exquisite and improvised shots. But in a quest to continuously improve the run rate, Manhas attempted to hit Gony over the mid-wicket but top-edged the ball and this time the fielder didn’t make any mistake.
However, Manhas’ departure only added to the woes of Punjab as Delhi skipper Rajat Bhatia, who looked in ominous form from the first ball, joined Bisht, who together stitched a 59-run partnership from 40 balls. He also added 53 from just 26 balls with Yogesh Nagar (21 not out).
Bhatia’s unbeaten 60 runs from 38 balls was an inning of ruthless and clinical hitting. He hit two sixes and six boundaries. Delhi scored 108 runs in the last 10 overs.
In reply, Punjab couldn’t even put up a good fight as medium pacer Parvinder Awana (3 for 27) rocked through their top order. And Punjab didn’t have the opportunity to recover as Delhi didn’t drop any catches. Varun Sood (3 for 4), who didn’t get any wicket on his debut, took care of the tail as the visitors were dismissed in just 32 overs.
Bhajji misses mark again
Harbhajan, who is trying to get back into the national fold, went wicket-less for the second time in two consecutive matches. However, he bowled a tight line to contain batsmen giving only 38 runs in his quota overs.
Delhi batsmen also played him cautiously. “He bowled well, actually. He didn’t give us much balls to score runs. We also didn’t want to take much risk against him,” Bisht said.
Harbhajan remained Punjab’s top scorer in the match with 36 runs from 29 balls in which he hit two sixes and five boundaries.
Brief Scores
Delhi: 265 for five (Punit Bisht 73, Rajat Bhatia 60 no, Mithun Manhas 60, Barinder Singh 2 for 72) beat Punjab: 130 in 32 overs (Harbhajan Singh 36, Bipul Sharma 25, Parvinder Awana 3 for 27, Varun Sood 3 for 4) by 135 runs.
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