Shorey knock goes in vain as Kerala upstage Delhi

DHARAMSALA: Delhi’s unbeaten run in the Vijay Hazare Trophy was brought to a halt by Kerala, who produced a team effort to eke out a stunning two-wicket win in a weather-hit Group B match here.

Coming into the match with four wins from as many outings, fancied Delhi were shocked by Kerala in the game reduced to 42-over-a-side contest due to a wet outfield.

The loss, however, will hardly have an effect on Delhi’s knockout chances as they are sitting pretty at the top with 16 points from five games.

Delhi are all but through, making it a four-way fight between Maharashtra (10 points), Kerala (10), Himachal Pradesh (10) and Uttar Pradesh (8) points for the second spot.

SHOREY SHINES

Sent into bat, Delhi were shot out for a mediocre 177 in 39.3 overs with Dhruv Shorey topscoring with a 90-ball 71, which included five boundaries and a six.

Barring Shorey, the Delhi batsmen struggled against the

moving ball in overcast conditions.

Milind Kumar (25) and skipper Pradeep Sangwan (25) were the next best scorers.

Medium pacer MD Niheesh picked up four wickets for Kerala, giving away 41 runs, while Fazil Fanoos (2/27) accounted for two. In reply, Kerala surpassed the target in 35.4 overs with captain Sachin Baby top scoring with a 52 off 57 balls, which included seven fours.

Wicketkeeper Sanju Samson (29), Jalaj Saxena (26), Vishnu Vinod (21) and Mohammed Azharuddeen (21) also made useful contributions.

Navdeep Saini (4/39) starred for Delhi with the ball and got good support from Kulwant Khejroliya (3/27).

In another Group B match at Nadaun, Bengal defeated Tripura by 109 runs to taste their first win of the tournament in another curtailed affair.