Bengaluru, Dec 27: Star batters Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant made solid fifties, while Gujarat batters pressed the self-destruction button as Delhi eked out a tight seven-run win in their Elite Group D match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here Friday.Player of the match Kohli (77, 61 balls) and Pant (70, 79b) carried Delhi to a modest 254 for 9 in 50 overs.
Despite looking solid in pockets, Gujarat folded for 247 in 47.4 overs.
Kohli and Pant offered the main story thread of the day with knocks of contrasting nature. Kohli had to walk in earlier in this match too after the early departure of opener Priyansh Arya, and looked in excellent touch.
After blocking the first ball, Kohli straight drove pacer Chintan Gaja for a four, manifesting his rich vein of form.
While other Delhi batters were often pushed to a tight corner by Gujarat bowlers, Kohli was fluency personified in his pet format of the game.
A pulled six off Gaja and a stunning flicked four off Arzan Nagwaswalla followed as Kohli slipped into the top gear.
The 37-year-old reached his fifty in 29 balls that had 10 fours and a six in a wonderful exhibition of shot-making.
The veteran batter brought up his 85th List A half-century off Ravi Bishnoi, carving the leg-spinner for a boundary over the covers.
A second century on the trot looked a certainty but a lovely ball from left-arm spinner Jayswal (4/42) ended his tenure.
Jayswal detected Kohli’s little shimmy very early, and fired one past the batter to get him stumped by Urvil. Delhi was 108 for four then, and required some momentum to drag the innings back on track.
A couple of overs back, Jayswal had also accounted for Nitish Rana and Arpit.
But Delhi found a saviour in skipper Pant, who eschewed his aggressive tendencies to keep his side’s innings together.
There were no archetypal Pant shots until he went past fifty in 64 balls. The first sign of innovation came in the 66th ball when he tried to execute a falling-scoop off Bishnoi, and 12 balls later he again attempted a similar shot off Gaja.
However, Pant’s growing impatience finally ended in him losing the sticks to Jayswal, also signalling the end of a 73-run alliance with Harsh Tyagi (40).
Simarjeet and Ishant Sharma added 19 runs for the final wicket to take Delhi past the 250-run mark.