Dhawan falls for duck but Himmat scores hundred in comfortable Delhi victory over Jharkhand

Mohali, Dec 8: Veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan failed to trouble the scorers but talented Himmat Singh anchored the chase with a fine century as Delhi easily beat Jharkhand by six wickets in a group C league game of the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Wednesday.

Batting first, Jharkhand scored 263 for 8 with skipper Virat Singh contributing a patient 79 and Kaushal Singh chipping in with 69. Delhi skipper Pradeep Sangwan scalped three for 46.

In reply, opener Dhawan, who is due to go to South Africa for the ODI series, was snapped by Anukul Roy off Varun Aaron's bowling. But Dhruv Shorey (64 off 82 balls) and Himmat (113 not out off 124 balls) added 127 for the second wicket inside 25 overs to bring things under control.

While Shorey hit seven boundaries, Himmat, considered one of the best talents to have come out of Delhi stable, had 11 fours and a six to his credit. Delhi did wobble a bit at 183 for 4 but Himmat had company from Khsitiz Sharma (43 not out off 39 balls) as their unbroken stand of 81 ensured that they reached home with as many as three overs to spare.

In other matches of the group, Saurashtra beat UP by 32 runs at Sector 16 Stadium in Chandigarh while Hyderabad beat Haryana by five wickets in the third game of the group in Mullanpur.

Brief Scores:

Jharkhand 263/8 (Virat Singh 79, Kaushal Singh 69, Pradeep Sangwan 3/46) Delhi 264/4 in 47 overs (Himmat Singh 113, Dhruv Shorey 64, Shikhar Dhawan 0). Delhi won by 6 wickets.

Saurashtra 223 (Jaydev Unadkat 33, Shivam Mavi 4/26). UP 191 (Rinku Sigh 65, Chirag Jani 5/35). Saurashtra won by 32 runs.

Haryana 162 (Yashu Sharma 68, Tilak Verma 4/23). Hyderabad 167/5 (Tanmay Agarwal 77). Hyderabad won by 5 wickets.