Delhi turn the tables on Himachal

A fine century by Rajeev Uniyal, followed by splendid bowling by Yogesh Sachdeva and Vivek Khurana helped Delhi beat Himachal Pradesh by 24 runs after being forced to follow on the last day of the North Zone Cooch Behar (Under-19) tournament at the Ferozshah Kotla Ground in New Delhi on Thursday. Delhi, who got eight points from this match next play Jammu & Kashmir at Jammu from Oct 22 to 24.

Delhi were 246 for two overnight. Uniyal who was on 90 when he resumed duly completed his century. Shortly afterwards, he was out after batting 150 minutes. He faced 121 balls and hit eleven fours and a six. TT Dilip scored a fine 88 off 101 balls with the help of eight fours. Uniyal and Dilip added 129 runs for the third wicket off 22.5 overs. Yashpal Singh slammed a breezy 33 off 32 balls and Delhi were able to declare at 368 for nine, compiled off only 65 overs. Paras Dogra with four for 80 was the most successful bowler.

Delhi thus turned a first innings deficit of 160 into an overall lead of 208. Hemant Dogra, coming in at No three, hit a fine 58 to keep alive Himachal's hopes of reaching the victory target. His younger brother Paras Dogra contributed 29. But the remaining batsmen succumbed meekly to Yogesh Sachdeva (4 for 44) and Vivek Khurana (4 for 63) and the side were all out for 184 in 49.5 overs.