Delhi beat Chhattisgarh by 44 runs to enter Hazare quarters

Delhi comfortably beat Chhattisgarh by 44 runs in their group B league encounter to enter the quarter-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here Monday.

Delhi topped group B with 26 points followed by Andhra who had an inferior net run-rate despite finishing with same number of points.

Delhi, Andhra and Hyderabad (22 points) have qualified from group B.

It was debutant wicketkeeper Lakshay Thareja, who scored 53 in the middle-order to take Delhi to 245 for 9 in 50 overs.

In reply, Chhattisgarh was all out for 201 in 45.1 overs with left-arm seamer Kulwant Khejorliya being the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 27.

Put into bat, Delhi were reduced to 77 for 4 with in-form batsmen Gautam Gambhir (10), Dhruv Shorey (8) and Nitish Rana (8) being dismissed cheaply.

Unmukt Chand (32 off 70 balls) couldn't get going and Delhi were in deep trouble at 112 for 6 in the 32nd over. It was Thareja and Lalit Yadav (24), who added 34 runs for the seventh wicket.

Thareja, who hit four boundaries in 72 balls was out leaving Delhi tottering at 176 for 8 after 44.5 overs.

However Pawan Negi (31 off 30 balls) and Simarjeet Singh (25 off 18 balls) added 50 runs in 4.2 overs. Khejroliya hit three towering sixes to take Delhi to a fighting total.

While chasing, Chhattisgarh lost more than of their team for barely 100 runs as their chase was as good as over.

At 139 for 8, Shakeeb Ahmed (38) and Shivendra Singh (25) added 51 runs to delay the inevitable but it always was Delhi's game.

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