Making it to the finals, Delhi defeated Jharkhand in heart-racing thriller by two wickets in the second semifinal of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, on a tricky M Chinnaswamy Stadium track, Delhi. However it was not an easy win for the team as even with such a small target of 200 runs to chase, Delhi was struggling at one time in the match, losing 8 wickets on a total of 149. Jharkhand tried its best to make Delhi forfeit while chasing under pressure, but in the end, it was Jharkhand who faced disappointment with just two balls left in the final over.
Pawan Negi (39 not out from 49 balls), who played responsibly with the bat had a huge contribution in Delhi’s win. For the 9th wicket, Negi had an unbroken 51 run partnership with Navdeep Saini (unbeaten 13 off 38 balls). Not only that, with Negi playing steadily on one end of the wicket, Saini did not let the wicket fall on the other end and was adjudged Man of the Match for his outstanding performance.
Saini also showed excellent form in the bowling and took 4 for 30 in ten overs. Kulwant Khaerolia and Pranshu Vijayan grabbed two wickets each
After winning the toss, Delhi put Jharkhand to bat first, but the team managed to score only 199 runs in 48.5 overs.
Batting maturely, Virat Singh played a good knock of 71 runs for his side. Apart from him, Anand Singh contributed 36 runs and Shahbaz Nadeem scored 29 runs.
Under pressure conditions, Jharkhand definitely missed presence of veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who had refused to play for his side in the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Though the score to chase in front of Delhi was less, but their beginning was not favorable as opening batsman Unmukt Chand returned to the pavilion in just third third over, scoring 13 of 17 balls.
After this, Anand Singh (3 for 39) did not let the Delhi batsmen settle easily on the field. He took wickets of Dhruv Shore (15), Captain Gautam Gambhir (27) and Harme Singh (2).