Vijay Hazare Trophy: Yadav's Gritty Half Ton, Spinners Bowling Heroics Help Delhi Edge Punjab By 5 runs

Coming into bat at 115 for five, Yadav showed tremendous grit to top-score for Delhi with an unbeaten 53-ball 54 as he steered the team to a respectable 220 for 8 in their stipulated 50 overs.

Delhi clinched a nail-biting encounter against Punjab by five runs in Group B of the Vijay Hazare trophy on the back of a spirited fightback led by Lalit Yadav's unbeaten half-century and a stellar bowling effort by their spinners. Coming into bat at 115 for five, Yadav showed tremendous grit to top-score for Delhi with an unbeaten 53-ball 54 as he steered the team to a respectable 220 for 8 in their stipulated 50 overs. Skipper Dhruv Shorey (46), Nitish Rana (39) and Himmat Singh (33) also chipped in  with the bat for Delhi. Chasing the total, Anmolpreet Singh (73) kept Punjab in the hunt but they failed to weave partnerships and eventually managed 215 for nine. Navdeep Saini rocked the top order, removing both the openers Abhishek Sharma (36) and Sanvir Singh (1) before the spin trioka of Pawan Negi (2/40), Nitish Rana (2/34) and Lalit Yadav (2/22) produced regular breakthroughs to derail Punjab’s chase. Earlier, Siddarth Kaul (5/48) produced a superb five-wicket haul as he removed both the openers - Shikhar Dhawan (10) and K Bidhuri (8) and then returned to dismiss three more lower-order batsmen. M Markande (2/36) and Sandeep Sharma (1/50) also accounted for two and one wicket respectively. In another match, Uttar Pradesh notched up a 109-run win over Vidarbha, riding on a superb ton by Priyam Garg (120) and a six-wicket haul by Saurabh Kumar (6/25). Electing to bat, Uttar Pradesh posted 211 all out, built around a 158-ball century by Garg which was studded with nine boundaries and four sixes. Shivam Mavi (20) was the only other batsman to get into double figures as the rest failed to provide any resistance. Chasing the target, Vidarbha were completely bamboozled by left-arm spinner Saurabh with just three of their batsmen reaching double figures. Meanwhile, Baroda eked out a two-wicket win over Himachal Pradesh in a low-scoring match. Put into bat, HP were bundled out for a paltry 161 in 44 overs with Baroda bowlers -- Bhargav Bhatt (3/24) and Ninad Rathva (3/33) snapping three wickets each.