With Virat Kohli and skipper Aakash Chopra in prime form, Delhi start as favourites in the Vijay Hazare Trophy quarter-final against Bengal in Agartala on Wednesday. However, Bengal, who haven’t been stretched so far in the tournament, are no pushovers and will look to rein the Delhi top order in on a tricky, humid wicket at the MBB Stadium.

Much of the attention will be on Delhi young gun Kohli, who has ripped apart almost all the opposition bowling line-ups in the run-up to this clash, smashing four centuries in the tournament so far. After his blinding 114 against Railways in the pre-quarters, Delhi skipper Chopra will rely largely on Kohli’s batting against a Bengal bowling arsenal whose only formidable member is the mercurial Ashok Dinda.

But again, Bengal skipper Laxmi Ratan Shukla knows quite well that the Delhi team’s worst-kept secret is their excessive dependence on the top-order. The trio of Chopra, Kohli and Puneet Bisht apart, the rest of the Delhi batting looks ordinary, as was evident when the middle and late order caved in during the high-scoring chase against Railways.

Low scores on the card
A 200 on the black-soil pitch at the MBB Stadium can be handy, which is why the Bengal think-tank will look up to the new-ball combination of Ranadeb Bose and Dinda to dislodge the Delhi top-order, particularly Kohli. “We have done plenty of homework on the Delhi team’s two departments. I have full belief that we can attack them on both fronts. There’s no use in just singling out one or two players as the threats,” said Shukla.

Chopra, however, is excitedly looking forward to the Bengal challenge as a grudge match. “The Bengal match is a grudge match for us, we have old scores to settle. We lost to them last season, and tomorrow is our chance of getting even. We are confident of beating them,” Chopra said.

delhi’s run so far
League
February 15: Beat J&K by 112 runs
February 17: Beat Punjab by 7 wkts
February 19: Lost to Himachal by 2 wkts
February 21: Beat Haryana by 139 runs
February 23: Beat Services by 6 wkts