Debutant medium pacer Subodh Bhati grabbed 4/17 as hosts Delhi beat Baroda by 31 runs in their opening group C game of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, here today.
Put into bat, Delhi managed to scrap around scoring 208 for seven in 50 overs, largely due to the 76-run stand for the seventh wicket between Nitish Rana (62) and Pawan Negi (47).
Delhi were 113 for six at one stage with India opener Shikhar Dhawan contributing 25 while skipper Gautam Gambhir scoring a painstaking 17.
Rana held the innings together facing 86 balls, hitting seven boundaries in the process. The 'little' Negi was more assertive as he took only 57 deliveries for his 47 which had a couple boundaries and six.
Veteran India discards Irfan Pathan (1/52) and Munaf Patel (1/44) got a wicket each. Youngster Rishi Arothe (2/30) was the most successful bowler.
In reply, Baroda were never in the match as Delhi bowlers pegged away to a disciplined line bowling them out for 177 in 46.5 overs.
"Since I have an idea of how to bowl on this Kotla track, I used a lot of slower deliveries and varied my pace. We knew that 200-220 is a defendable," Bhati, who has already made his debut in four-day format this season, said after the match.
Ishant Sharma (9-1-29-0) bowled well but did not get a wicket while Pradeep Sangwan (2/41) was sharp. Negi (1/25) also kept batsmen under check. Deepak Hooda (50) was the only batsman who looked in some kind of form.
Ambati Rayudu (14), Pathan brothers Irfan (0) and Yusuf (2), failed in this match. Irfan was bowled off the first delivery off Milind Kumar as he tried to cut a delivery that kept low.
Brief Scores: Delhi 208/7 in 50 overs (Nitish Rana 62, Pawan Negi 47, Shikhar Dhawan 25, Gautam Gambhir 17, Rishi Arote 2/30, Irfan Pathan 1/52)
Baroda 177 all out in 46.5 overs (Deepak Hooda 50, Ambati Rayudu 14, Yusuf Pathan 2, Irfan Pathan 0, Subodh Bhati 4/17, Pradeep Sangwan 2/41, Navdeep Saini 2/51).
Delhi won by 31 runs. Points: Delhi 4; Baroda 0.
