GWALIOR, March 20: Vikram Rathore-inspired Board President's XI made mincemeat of the Delhi bowling attack to storm into the semi-final of the Wills Trophy with a comfortable six-wicket victory with 9.5 overs to spare at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium here on Friday.Opener Rathore led from the front with a stroke-filled 146 and shared a 137-run stand for the second wicket with one-drop Gagan Khoda (35) in just 18.4 overs that shut Delhi's progress in the tournament. Rathore struck 16 fours and five sixes in his 125-ball knock. Set a target of 259 in 50 overs, the Board President's XI reached 262 for four in only 40.1 overs.
Watched by national selector M.P. Pandov, Rathore went beserk against the Delhi attack, sparing none of the nine bowlers who were seen in action while he was in the middle. First, he picked medium-pacer Amit Bhandari for special treatment in the initial overs, taking 18 runs off him and then turned his attention to off-spinner Sumeet Dogra, hitting him for two successive sixes. By theend of the 10th over itself, the Board XI had reached 78 without loss, Sandeep Sharma (46: 8x4) giving his skipper good company.
Rathore hit five sixes in all, Sanghvi (2), Dogra (2) and medium pacer Robin Singh bearing the brunt of his fury. Ajay Jadeja, who received a big applause from the large crowd, was out with the team two short of the target. But it was basically, the poor Delhi bowling that made the Board XI's task easier.
SCOREBOARD
Delhi: Vijay Dahiya c Karthik b Hussain 1, Oniel Wilson c Raul b Sandeep Sharma 7, Ashu Dani c Rathore b Sandeep Sharma 5, Ajay Sharma c Khoda b Zakir Hussain 6, Mithun Minhas c Sodhi b Raul 88, Virendra Shewag c Sodhi b Raul 51, Nikhil Chopra not out 51, Sumit Dogra not out 31.
Extras: (b-4, lb-4, nb-2, w-8) 18.
Total: (for 6 wkts in 50 overs) 258.
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-18, 3-28, 4-50, 5-133, 6-194
Bowling: Sandeep Sharma 10-0-53-2, Zakir Hussain 6-0-26-2, Murli Karthik 10-0-38-0, Reetinder Sodhi 7-0-40-0, SanjayRaul 10-0-54-2, Ajay Jadeja 5-0-31-0, Jacob Martin 2-0-8-0.
Board President's XI: V Rathore c Dani b Sanghvi 146, Sandeep Sharma c b N. Chopra 46, G Khoda st Dahiya b Sanghvi 35, Ajay Jadeja c Dani b Sehwag 23, P Dharmani not out 2, Jacob Martin not out 5;
Extras (lb-2, 2-3) 5;
Total: (for 4 wkts, 40.1 overs): 262.
Fall of wickets: 1-78, 2-215, 3-251, 4-257.
Bowling: Robin Singh 6-1-37-0, Oniel Wilson 3-0-24-0, Amit Bhandari 2-0-24-0, N Chopra 9-0-46-1, R. Sanghvi 10-0-47-2, V. Sehwag 6-0-30-1, Ajay Sharma 2-0-17-0, S. Dogra 2-0-31-0, M. Manhas 0.1-0-4-0.
Result: Board XI won by six wickets.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
