Sehwag hits 54 as Delhi pacers rout Himachal

Mohali, February 21 (UNI) Ashish Nehra, Pradeep Jaiveer Sangwan and Amit Bhandari took three wickets apiece as Delhi registered a comfortable 102-run victory over Himachal Pradesh in the North Zone One-Day Ranji Trophy Tournament here today.

Himachal Pradesh won the toss and elected to field. Virender Sehwag today came at the fourth position and scored a half century before he was run out by Dogra.

His knock of 54 came from 66 deliveries and contained nine fours.

Akash Chopra (24) and Gautam Gambhir (5) opened the Delhi innings.

They could put on only 20 runs before Gambhir was bowled by Jitender Mehta (3 for 59).

Newcomer Shikhar Dhawan also made an early departure adding just one run to the team's score of 34 as Delhi were dismissed for 170 runs. Mehta and right arm off spinner Sarandeep Singh (3 for 23 from 8.3 overs) were the most successful bowlers for Himachal.

Himachal innings lasted 114 minutes and they could muster only 58 runs in in 23.3 overs. Only Sandeep Sharma (20) and VS Malik (13) would reach double figures as Delhi pacers wrecked the Himachal lineup.

Delhi gained five points and Himachal one.

Delhi: Akash Chopra c Bhatia b Boon 24 Gautam Gambhir b Mehta 5 Shikhar Dhawan c Mannu b Malik 1 Virender Sehwag run out (Dogra) 54 M Manhas b Mehta 13 R Bhatia c Mannu b Mehta 1 P Bisht c Sandeep Sharma b Sarandeep Singh 0 A Sharma not out 34 PJ Sangwan c Malik b Sarandeep Singh 3 Ashish Nehra run out (Bhatia) 4 A Bhandari lbw Sarandeep Singh 3 Extras (lb 8, w 14, nb 6) 28 Total (all out; 40.3 overs; 176 mins) 170 Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-34, 3-45, 4-84, 5-96, 6-108, 7-137, 8-147, 9-158, 10-170.

Bowling VS Malik 7-0-37-1 J Mehta 9-0-59-3 V Boon 10-1-35-1 Sarandeep Singh 8.3- 1-23-3 V Bhatia 6-1-8-0.

Himachal Pradesh: MS Bisla b Nehra 0 Sandeep Sharma c Bisht b Bhandari 20 Paras Dogra lbw b Bhandari 8 Sangram Singh c Bisht b Bhandari 2 Mukesh Sharma c Chopra b Sangwan 6 VS Malik b Nehra 13 A Mannu lbw b Sangwan 0 Sarandeep Singh run out (Sehwag) 1 V Bhatia c Chopra b Sangwan 0 V Boon not out 4 J Mehta b Nehra 4 Extras (lb 1, w 7, nb 2) 10 Total (all out; 23.2 overs; 114 mins) 68.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-23, 3-30, 4-33, 5-51, 6-5, 7-58, 8-59, 9-63, 10-68.

Bowling A Nehra 8.2-3-18-3 PJ Sangwan 8-1-26-3 A Bhandari 7-0-23-3.

UNI