Indian left-arm spinner Axar Patel has taken six wickets in the semifinal at Alur of Vijay Hazare Trophy that helped Gujarat to book the berth of Vijay Hazare Trophy final. Meanwhile, Unmukt Chand scored a brilliant match-winning 80 runs innings that helped Delhi to defeat Himachal Pradesh in another semifinal at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Both Delhi and Gujarat will face each other in M Chinnaswamy Staum Bangalore on Monday.
At Karnataka State Cricket association Ground, Alur Gujarat batting first scored 248. Chirag Gandhi and Manpreet Juneja scored 71 and 74 respectively. In a rather slow match Axar Patel’s six wickets haul rattled Tamil Nadu, who were bowled out for 217 even after opener Abhinav Mukund’s masterly innings of 104.
Tamil Nadu got a good start from opener Mukund and Dinesh Karthik. But, after the fall of the first wicket on 84, they have collapsed line a pack of cards. The only resistance came from Ravichandran Ashwin who scored 22.
Tamil Nadu lost the match 31 runs.
On the other hand, Delhi defeated Himachal Pradesh in a low scoring match. Himachal Pradesh (HP) batting first started losing wickets in regular interval. Delhi bowler Nitish Rana, Pawan Negi and Suboth Bhati took two wickets each.
Middle order batsman Bipul Sharma scored 51, the highest score for HP.
Coming to chase the target 201 Delhi lost their first opener Rishabh Pant’s wicket for 32 runs. But, Shikhar Dhawan and Unmukt Chand batted with ease and built 61 runs. Dhawan did not last long as he bowled by Bipul Sharma scoring 39. However, Unmukt Chand put up a brilliant show as he scored unbeaten 80 off 86 balls. Captain Gautam Gambhir scored 16. Chand’s innings paved way Delhi’s four-wicket victory in 41.1 overs.
Gujarat and Delhi will confront each other on Monday at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.