Delhi on top, to face old foes Mumbai in semis
After the game, the sluggish Ferozshah Kotla pitch again came under fire with the Railways coach Abhay Sharma, like Karnataka skipper Robin Uthappa had the previous day, saying it was not conducive for a one-day game.
Toss again became a crucial factor in the Vijay Hazare quarterfinal game between Delhi and Railways. And Delhi, having started as favourites also won the toss and eventually sealed victory by seven wickets in the quarterfinals of the Vijay Haraze Trophy one-day tournament. They will now meet old foes Mumbai in the semifinals on Saturday.
Sharma said: "It was the sort of track where if you win the toss 90% of the game is in your pocket. That is what happened. And I'm not the only one to say this.”
Asked to bat first, Railways were bowled out for 175, which only maintained the trend of teams being dismissed for modest totals in previous games.
Pacers Parwinder Awana and Pawan Suyal got early breakthroughs and Pradeep Sangwan and skipper Rajat Bhatia maintained the pressure. It was the seventh wicket partnership of 52 between Ashish Yadav (59) and Dhiren Salvi (26) which helped Sanjay Bangar's side last till the 50th over.
Gautam Gambhir chose to play and was included in place of regular opener Unmukt Chand, but chose to bat only at number three. Dhawan (69) and Mohit Sharma (36) had a 97-run opening stand, which meant Delhi were 97 runs when Gambhir came in to bat.
Delhi vice-captain Shikhar Dhawan said, "I don't know whose decision it was. Maybe it was Gautam's but I think it was a collective one."
Brief scores
Railways 175 all out in 49.1 overs (Yadav 59; Bhatia 3/30, 2/20) lost to Delhi 178/3 in 37.4 overs (Dhawan 69, Gambhir 34 not out)
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