Lucknow: Delhi dashed Uttar Pradesh’s hopes of making it into the semi-finals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, winning the high-scoring quarter-final match by 19 runs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Put in to bat, Delhi piled up 193/3 with the help of Anuj Rawat’s blitz. The wicketkeeper-batter smashed an unbeaten 73 runs off just 33 balls, with the help of seven boundaries and five sixes. He added 77 runs off just 39 balls with skipper Ayush Badoni (25), before the latter was cleaned up by Vineet Panwar. After the dismissal of Badoni, Anuj added a quick 27 runs with Himmat Singh (3*).
Earlier, Delhi openers Priyansh Arya and Yash Dhull added 81 runs in 10.1 overs. Arya smashed 44 runs off 34 balls, while Dhull scored 42 off 32 balls. Priyansh was caught by Rinku Singh off Nitish Rana at 1/81 in 10.1 overs, followed by Yash, who was also caught by Nitish Rana off Mohsin Khan.
In reply, Uttar Pradesh got off to a poor start, with opening batter Karan Sharma dismissed by the experienced pacer Ishant Sharma at 11/1 in the very first over. The pressure of chasing a mammoth total forced the UP batsmen to play aggressive shots, and they lost wickets at regular intervals, finishing with 174 runs in 19.5 overs. Only Priyam Garg showed some resistance, scoring a half-century. Skipper Bhuvneshwar Kumar (20) and Mohsin Khan added 35 runs off 18 balls for the ninth wicket, but it wasn’t enough to get them over the line.
For Delhi, Prince Yadav grabbed three wickets, while Suyash Sharma and skipper Ayush Badoni claimed two wickets each. Experienced Ishant Sharma, Simarjeet Singh, and Harsh Tyagi each took one wicket.
