Veteran India discard Gautam Gambhir scored a duck as Himachal Pradesh hammered Delhi into submission with an emphatic 185-run win in a Vijay Hazare Trophy group B encounter, here today.
This is second defeat in a row for young Rishabh Pant-led Delhi. Thy will have to win all their remaining matches in order to harbour hopes of qualifying for the knock-outs.
Batting first, Himachal Pradesh piled up a massive 339 for 8 in 50 overs with opener Prashant chopra smashing way to 159 off 140 balls with 24 boundaries and three sixes.
He added 115 for the 3rd wicket with Paras Dogra (77 off 65 balls) that had four boundaries and four sixes. Debutant left-arm pacer Kulwant Khejroliya took 3/61 while other seamer Navdeep Saini had figures of 3/63 to show for his effort.
In reply, Delhi were shot out for 154 in 37 overs with six players failing to cross double figures. Gambhir was out in the second over without troubling scores. The highly rated Rishabh Pant is also having a poor tournament getting out for two after scoring 5 in the first game.
Debutant Sarthak Ranjan scored a dedate 37 off 56 balls with five boundaries.
Off-spinner Dheeraj Kumar wreaked havoc with 5/24 in 8 overs.
Summarised Scores
Group B
At KIIT Bhubaneswar: HP 339/8 (Prashant Chopra 159, Paras Dogra 77, Kulwant Khejroliya 3/61 in 10 overs)
Delhi 154 in 37 overs (Sarthak Ranjan 37, Rishabh Pant 2, Gautam Gambhir 0, Dheeraj Kumar 5/24)
HP won by 185 runs.
At Tangi, Cuttack: UP 159 in 36 overs (Rinku Singh 37, Aswin Crist 2/38)
Tamil Nadu 160/3 in 27.5 overs (Dinesh Karthik 56, Vijay Shankar 58). TN won by 7 wickets.
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