Vijay Hazare Trophy: Anuj, Navdeep help Delhi beat Madhya Pradesh; Ninad scores century in Baroda’s win over Kerala

Vijay Hazare Trophy: Anuj, Navdeep help Delhi beat Madhya Pradesh; Ninad scores century in Baroda’s win over Kerala

Anuj Rawat’s superbly-paced knock (78 off 103 balls) didn’t look like a match-winning effort at the innings break for Delhi. But, a fiery third spell (4-1-11-4) by India pacer Navdeep Saini proved to be a game-changer as it came back strongly to record a 79-run win over Madhya Pradesh in the second round of the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day championship Group E match at Gymkhana Ground in Hyderabad on Monday.

Delhi, put into bat, lost wickets at regular intervals in the face of accurate spells by the left-arm spin duo of Kumar Kartikeya Singh (two for 24) and Sagar Solanki (two for 27) despite opener Sarthak Ranjan (41, 68b, 4×4, 1×6) and the free-stroking Hritik Shokeen (28 off 22 balls) batting with great freedom at the top.

It was wicketkeeper-batter Anuj Rawat, for the second consecutive match in this edition, who showcased his impressive range of strokes to accelerate the scoring rate in the slog overs with some powerful blows like the six which went out of the ground over long-on off Solanki.

After restricting Delhi to a modest 211, MP’s batting was disappointing despite a 68-run stand for the first wicket in 13 overs between wicketkeeper-batter Harsh Gawali (42 off 43 balls) and Subhranshu Senapati (55 off 72 balls), the latter lucky to see Himmat Singh drop a regulation catch when on zero off Saini in the second over of the innings.

But once off-spinner Hrithik Shokeen induced a poor sweep stroke to dismiss the well-set Gawali and captain Rajat Patidar (2) was bounced out by Saini soon, MP was reduced to 106 for four in the 23rd over.

MP never really came back into the game as Saini was at his best testing the batters with pace, bounce and accuracy. His four-wicket burst ensured Delhi was well and truly on course to victory as MP was reduced to 115 for seven in 28th over and Shokeen’s three-wicket haul was the perfect complement to the fast bowler’s effort.

In another Group E match at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here, opener Ninad Rathva’s brilliant century (136 off 99 balls) and captain Krunal Pandya’s unbeaten 80 off 54 balls helped Baroda record a 62-run win against Kerala for whom Mohammed Azharuddeen’s century (104 off 58 balls) was in vain.