Axar Patel bowled Gujarat to an improbable win against Tamil Nadu in the semi-final clash in Alur with his fourth five-wicket haul in List A matches. His six for 43 clinched the game for the Parthiv Patel-led team even as Abhinav Mukund toiled to keep TN in the game with an unbeaten century. In the other semi-final between Delhi and Himachal Pradeesh, Unmukt Chand’s 80* and Nitish Rana’s all-round performance ensured Delhi a place in the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015-16.
Highlights of the day:
Tamil Nadu vs Gujarat: Gujarat 248/8 in 50 overs (M Juneja 74, C Gandhi 71, R AShwin 3/51, V Shankar 2/36) beat TN 217/10 in 47.3 overs (A Mukund 104*, A Patel 6/43, J Bumrah 2/45) by 31 runs.
Axar Patel bowled Gujarat to a resounding victory in the semi-finals against Tamil Nadu after the opposition had got off to a good start. Chasing 249 in the all-important game, Abhinav Mukund and Dinesh Karthik put together 84 runs until the spinner ended the opening stand. He then accounted for Baba Aprajith in his next over and added Baba Indrajith and Murali Vijay to his tally in the following over. With four quick wickets, Axar reduced TN to 98 for four in 20.5 overs.
With the match hanging in balance, Hardik Patel castled R Sathish while Axar followed up with the wickets of R Ashwin and Vijay Shankar to put Gujarat in a commanding position even as Mukund continued to stoically hold-up the other end. Jasprit Bumrah then wrapped-up the TN innings for 217 by claiming Aswin Crist and L Balaji off successive deliveries. Mukund was stranded on 104 as TN innings came to an end with 15 balls to spare.
Earlier, Gujarat lost half their side with just 87 runs on the board after being asked to bat. However, Chirag Gandhi's 71 and Manpreet Juneja's 71-ball 74 helped the team set TN a competitive 249-run target.
Delhi vs Himachal Pradesh: HP 200/9 in 50 overs (B Sharma 51, N Rana 2/16, P Negi 2/36, S Bhati 2/36) lost to Delhi 201/4 in 41.1 overs (U Chand 80, S Dhawan 39, N Gangta 1/14) by 6 wickets.
Unmukt Chand (80*) anchored Delhi to a six-wicket win after the bowlers had restricted Himachal to 200 for nine. Coming in to bat at No 3 with the team on 32 for one, he steered the team to a comprehensive win. He was involved in a 61-run partnership with Shikhar Dhawan (39) and later partnered Nitish Rana (19*) to take the team across the line.
Although he survived while on 53 after top-edging the ball towards mid-wicket, during the fifth-wicket stand he carried the innings forward determinedly. The stand was unbroken on 55 as Delhi scaled the target to book a place in the finals.
Earlier, after electing to field, captain, Gautam Gambhir ran out Ankush Bains to give Delhi their first breakthrough. While Navdeep Saini and Ishant Sharma kept the batsmen on a tight leash, Pawan Negi (2/36), Rana (2/16) and Subodh Bhati (2/36) ran through the batting line-up to keep HP in check. While wickets fell at regular intervals, captain Bipul Sharma (51) lifted the team to 200 before holing Ishant Sharma towards deep square-leg off the last ball in an effort to add a few runs to the total.
Follow the stars:
Gujarat captain Parthiv Patel (0 off 3) returned to the dressing room without opening his account.
L Balaji (1/37) claimed the sole wicket of Merai and scored 22 runs.
Ravichandran Ashwin claimed three for 51 after in TN's semi-final clash against Gujarat.
Murali Vijay was sent back by Axar Patel for naught in the semi-final.
Gautam Gambhir scored 16 before being trapped lbw by Delhi's Gangta.
Rishi Dhawan scored nine runs and was wicketless in the match against Delhi.
Rishabh Pant scored 18 for Delhi against HP.
