New Delhi: Fine knocks by Wasim Jaffer (92) and Abhishek Nayar (72) helped Mumbai defeat the host Delhi by 140 runs to cruise into the finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy played here at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Saturday.
Before start of the play it was anticipated that the team batting second would be benefited by the pitch, but Mumbai’s captain Ajit Agarkar defied the odds and elected to bat first. Coming on to bat Mumbai’s openers started on a crucial note and the duo of Wasim Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane and put up a 72 runs partnership before Rahane(42) was stumped by Punit Bisht of Varun Sood’s bowling in the 19th over.
It was then Jaffer and Sushant Marathe who held on to their ground and played well and a big partnership was looking on cards. But Delhi who were somewhat successful in curtailing the run flow got the breakthrough when Sushant was caught by Parvinder Awana off Pradeep Sangwan’s bowling with 114 runs on board.
Delhi however dealt the deadly blow when they finally got the prized scalp of Jaffer at the score of 172. He was out after playing a fine knock of 92 which included 11 boundaries and a six.
It was then Abhishek Nayar who took affairs in his own hands and the southpaw smashed Delhi bowlers all over the park. Wickets kept on falling on the other but that did not stop him from playing hit shots and he scored 72 of just 41 balls including eight fours and two huge sixes to take the team’s total to 295.
Chasing a formidable 295, Delhi started on a positive note and their openers Unmukt Chand and Shikhar Dhawan started the proceedings well. But skipper Agarkar had other plans and got the initial breakthrough in the ninth over when he removed Chand with the scoreboard reading 40.
Delhi somewhat could not see it seemed that Delhi has come with a firm hope to play with patience and win the match to take it away from Mumbai. For Delhi the as usual openers in the form of Unmukt and Shikhar Dhawan started the proceedings and looked good but it was the Mumbai captain Ajit Agarkar who gave the first breakthrough to his team in the 9th over. The wicket opened the floodgates and Delhi started collapsing like nine pins and were soon down to 57-4.
It was only Jagrit Anand who showed some resistance and scored a defiant 51, but it was not enough as the home side were all out for 155. For Mumbai, pick of the bowlers were Anup Revander (37-3) well supported by Kshemal Waingankar and Iqbal Abdulla who took two wickets each.
Mumbai would now meet Bengal in the finals on Monday who in the other match defeated Punjab
By Avinash Dhar
Indian Sports News
