Defending champions Delhi inched a step closer towards qualifying for the knock-out rounds of the Vijay Hazare Trophy after comfortably beating Haryana by six wickets in a North Zone leg match here today.
Batting first, Haryana crawled to 200 for six after being reduced to 109 for six, courtesy Bhupinder Lingwal (51 not out) and Sonu Rathi (39 not out) with seamer Sumit Narwal (2/30) and left-arm spinner Pawan Negi (2/41) sharing bulk of the spoils.
In reply, Milind Kumar (70 not out) and veteran Mithun Manhas (68) struck half-centuries to ensure a smooth sailing for Delhi with a 96-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
This was after Unmukt Chand (0) got a howler from the umpire, adjudged leg before by Mohit Sharma despite getting a big inside edge.
Gautam Gambhir (20) drove uppishly to be caught by Avi Barot off Harshal Patel's bowling. Jagrit Anand (10) was also dismissed cheaply reducing Delhi to 41 for three in 11.2 overs before Manhas-Milind steadied the ship.
Milind and Puneet Bisht (26 not out) added another 67 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket to seal the issue with 23 balls to spare.
Milind hit seven fours and a six in his 106 ball knock while Manhas's fifty had nine sweetly timed fours in 74 balls.
Delhi, Punjab and Services are locked on 12 points each having won three of their four matches.
While Delhi would like to beat Services thereby ensuring a smooth sailing, in case they are defeated, they would have to then expect Punjab to lose badly to Himachal Pradesh in their final group league encounter tomorrow.
Having beaten Services by 98 runs today, Punjab are now positioned on top of the table with 12 points and a net run rate of +0.956 while Delhi are second with +0.248 and same number of points. Services are third with 12 points and a net run-rate of -0.366.
Brief Scores: Haryana 200/6 in 50 overs (Bhupinder Lingwal 51, Rahul Dewan 49, Sonu Rathee 39).
Delhi 203/4 in 46.1 overs (Milind Kumar 70, Mithun Manhas 68). Delhi won by six wickets.
