Dhoni’s 70 goes in vain, Delhi maul Jharkhand by 99 runs

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s unbeaten half-century went in vain as Delhi notched up a comprehensive 99-run victory against Jharkhand in a lop-sided second quaterfinal of the Vijay Hazare trophy at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Wednesday.

Chasing 226 to win, Dhoni stood amid the ruins with an 108-ball 70-run innings which was studded with five boundaries and four sixes. The Indian limited overs skipper didn’t find any support from the other end with only Kaushal Singh (11) and Ankit Dabas (16) managing a double figure.

Suboth Bhati (4/21) and Navdeep Saini (3/31) shared seven wickets, while Ishant Sharma scalped two wickets and Pawan Negi took one to completely derail Jharkhand's chase.

Put into bat, Delhi rode on some useful contributions from its top order and lower-middle order to post 225 in their stipulated 50 overs but it proved enough as Jharkhand never looked in the chase, despite a fine innings by Dhoni. Earlier put into bat, Rishabh Pant (24) and Shikhar Dhawan (27) gave Delhi a good start, sharing 53 runs for the opening partnership before Dabas dismissed the former. Dhawan too was sent back to the hut after a few overs by Dabas with Dhoni producing a brilliant stumping.

Gautam Gambhir (20) and Milind Kumar (0) were then sent packing in the 24th over bowled by fast bowler Varon Aaron as Delhi was reduced to 92 for four. While Gambhir was run out, Milind was caught behind by Dhoni. Unmukt Chand too could not stay longer and he was removed by Aaron in the 28th over.

Nitish Rana (44) and Manan Sharma (21) then shared a 74-run vital stand before both the batsmen fall prey to Rahul Shukla in the 46th over. P Negi then blasted 38 off 16 balls with the help of three fours and as many sixes to take Delhi across the 200-mark.

For Jharkhand, Shukla (3/60), AM Dabas (2/46) and Aaron (2/43) were the wicket-takers.