Unmukt Chand's commanding 90 and Subodh Bhati's crucial three-wicket haul piloted Delhi to a comprehensive 89-run win over Bengal in a Vijay Hazare Trophy Group B match at the A.B. Vajpayee Stadium here on Sunday.
Delhi, opting to bat, put up a challenging 282 for eight and confined Bengal to 193 in spite of Pradeep Sangwan's absence. It was Delhi's fourth consecutive win.
Unmukt's second half-century of the tournament guided Delhi's essay. The opener, who warmed up by hitting three boundaries off B. Amit's first over, waited for the lose deliveries to unleash big shots.
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Unmukt and his young aggressive partner Hiten Dalal (38 off 43 balls, 3x4, 2x6) provided Delhi a sound start by collecting 67 runs. They parted ways in the 13th over when Dalal was spectacularly held by Anustup Majumder at deep square-leg off Kanishk Seth.
Unmukt relied on his exquisite timing and got associated with Nitish Rana (48 off 42, 2x4, 4x6) for another important partnership of 82 runs for the third wicket. Unmukt worked the ball around, while Rana resorted to some clean hammering, including two sixes off a Vivek Singh over.
Delhi lost Rana, who was caught at point off Manoj Tiwary, and Rishabh Pant within a short period. Bengal made further inroads as Amit came back strongly to have Unmukt lbw and Manan Sharma caught behind in the 39th over and leave Delhi at 212 for six.
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Milind Kumar (38 off 38) Pawan Negi (26 off 27) gathered 67 runs in good time to benefit Delhi. Bengal's reply was not potent enough as Shreevats Goswami (15), Vivek (1), Abhishek Raman (0) and Manoj Tiwary (17) were back in the dug-out for 76 on board.
A positive 68-run stand between opener Abhimanyu Easwaran (67 off 89, 8x4) and Anustup Majumder (31 off 39, 2x4) made Bengal optimistic.
However, Bhati, who had dismissed Abhishek in his second spell, returned to claim the solid-looking Abhimanyu, caught behind poking at an away going delivery, in the 31st over and Negi removed Majumder, brilliantly stumped by Pant, in the next to dash Bengal's hopes. Bowling a good line, Bhati scalped Amit to complete his three-wicket haul. Kulwant Khejroliya also captured three as Bengal suffered its third defeat.
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At Dharamshala, Kerala beat Tripura by four wickets to post its first win.
Brief scores
At Amtar: Delhi 282 for 8 in 50 overs (Unmukt Chand 90, Nitish Rana 48, B. Amit 4 for 52) beat Bengal 193 in 41 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 67, Kulwant Khejroliya 3 for 30, Subodh Bhati 3 for 38) by 89 runs.
At Dharamshala: Tripura 231 for 9 in 50 overs (Manisankar Mura Singh 61, Rajat Dey 46, Nidheesh M.D. 3 for 29) lost to Kerala 234 for 6 in 45.1 overs (Rohan Prem 52, Mohd. Azharuddeen 47, Vishnu Vinod 40, Neelambuj Vats 3 for 49) by 4 wickets.
At Bilaspur: Uttar Pradesh 189 in 42.1 overs (Saurabh Kumar 44, Ayush Jamwal 3 for 23, Vinay Galetiya 3 for 28) beat Himachal Pradesh 146 in 42.3 overs (Nikhil Gangta 39, Kartik Tyagi 3 for 29) by 43 runs.
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