New Delhi: Delhi’s much-vaunted batting line up fell like a pack of cards as unheralded Andhra Pradesh reached semifinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy with a six-wicket victory here on Thursday.
Medium pacer Siva Kumar (4/29 in 10 overs) and left-arm spinner Bharghav Bhatt (3/28 in 7.1 overs) wreaked havoc as Delhi were skittled out for 111 in 32.1 overs. In reply, Andhra reached the target in 28.4 overs with Ricky Bhui (32) and Ashwin Hebbar (38) scoring bulk of the runs.
Andhra opted to field on a wicket that didn’t have any demons but none of the Delhi batsmen were willing to stay at the crease long enough to put up a substantial score. Unmukt Chand (4) was bowled by an incoming delivery from Siva while Gambhir (8) gave a simple catch to B. Sumath.
Young Hiten Dalal (11) also played across the line to be castled with Delhi reeling at 33 for 3 in 9 overs. Siva, who bowled at late 120kmph, did nothing exceptional save pitching it up and Delhi batsmen didn’t show requisite application.
Nitish Rana (2) couldn’t get going as he completely missed the line of military medium pace bowler Bandaru Ayappa. Rishabh Pant (38) and Dhruv Shorey (21) tried to stem the rot with 36-run stand for fifth wicket but inept shot selection saw them lose six wickets for 35 runs. Shorey misread the flight of Bhatt’s delivery and was stumped but it was Pant whose atrocious shot selection stood out.
With more than 20 overs left, Pant miscued a pull shot off Siva’s half tracker to be caught by Bhatt at mid wicket boundary. Once Pant was out, there was no resistance shown by the tail.
Meanwhile, Young Arpit Vasavada kept his composure during the end overs as his 43-ball-45 enabled a safe passage for Saurashtra into the semifinals beating Baroda by three wickets.
While Maharashtra will play Karnataka in the first semifinal, Saurashtra by virtue of their quarter-final win will meet Andhra in the second semifinal.
Chasing a target of 248, Saurashtra crossed the finishing line in 48.4 overs courtesy Vasavada.
Brief Scores
Delhi 111 in 32.1 overs (Rishabh Pant 36, Siva Kumar 4/29, Bharghav Bhatt 3/28) lost to Andhra 112/4 in 28.4 overs (Ricky Bhui 36, Ashwin Hebbar 38).
Baroda 247/8 in 50 overs (K.H. Pandya 61, S. Tai 72, C. Jani 4/35) lost to Saurashtra 251/7 48.4 overs (A. Barot 82, Pujara 40, Vasavada 45, Sheth 3/38).
