Chand 99 gives Delhi win in tense chase

Unmukt Chand's recent scores have read: 52, 90, 64, 56, 84, 51 not out. In the second innings at Kotla, in a chase made tricky because of zero experience in the Delhi middle order, Chand came agonisingly close to converting it into a big one, but his stroke-filled 99 helped Delhi win in a tense finish.

When Chand became the fourth wicket to fall, Delhi needed only 60 on a slow pitch where batsmen were getting more and more difficult to dislodge, but Delhi supporters became tense. Soon it became apparent why, with Haryana growing a leg, their players finding a voice, and two wickets falling immediately. Pradeep Sangwan, who opens the innings both with the bat and ball in all local tournaments in Delhi, then eased the situation with a couple of fours early on. Harshal Patel and Ashish Hooda bowled their hearts out in the afternoon. Harshal bowled 12 straight overs either side of lunch for 39 runs and two wickets, Ashish's afternoon analysis read 7-2-16-1, but Delhi prevailed by four wickets in the grudge match against the side led by former Delhi player Virender Sehwag.

The day began for Delhi with 155 required and all their wickets intact. The pitch had become slow. Looking at how Haryana's lower order had dragged the innings out, it looked increasingly difficult to get wickets if the batsmen did not become adventurous. Gautam Gambhir, though, for the second time in the match, fell to a contentious lbw in the second over of the day. He was fine 10% of his match fee for trying to mislead the umpire by suggesting the ball hit him higher than it actually did.

The experiment of Mohit Ahlawat at No. 3 failed with a pair against the rookie wicketkeeper's name. Nitish Rana and Chand then steadied the innings with sensible batting. Chand, who began the day on 48, batted with intent. He drove beautifully through the covers, none of such boundaries coming off half-volleys. He drove them on the up, with a long stride in to get into position. He slowed down in the 90s, and when he got the short and wide delivery to cut, he managed just the outside edge. Chand later said he was not aware he was batting on 99. "I was not looking at 100, but at the 224 the team needed," he said.

Harshal and Hooda got into their zone. Four wickets fell for 29 runs, the injured Ishant Sharma began to walk up and down in the Delhi balcony. It would have been interesting if he would have been available to bat and also able to run. Coming in with 41 required, Sanwgan eased the nerves by racing away to 10 off 13. This was decisive batting. Drawing confidence from the other end, Milind Kumar, the No. 6 batsman under pressure, went to weather the storm.

Once the score went past 200 and Haryana had to go to Jayant Yadav and Sanjay Pahal, Milind too opened up. Yadav admitted he should have done better on a last-day pitch than 14 overs for 48 runs and no wickets. "I have let myself down," he said. "If I had chipped in with one or two wickets or held one end up like Manan did for Delhi, this game would have been closer."

Milind ended the game with two fours in one over, one through gully and the other through midwicket. Relief was palpable all around. Milind raised his bat to the spectators, and Delhi rose to the top of the table after a disastrous off-field start to the tournament. The team management, too, has been under pressure with their left-field selections, but for the moment they sit pretty.