Vikas Dixit stars as Delhi beat Saurashtra

Off-spinner Vikas Dixit, who came into limelight after a 10-wicket haul in the DDCA league match a couple of seasons back, helped Delhi U-19 beat Saurashtra by eight wickets in the Cooch Behar U-19 match at Rajkot. The win puts Delhi colts, who became the North Zone one-day champions this year, in a strong position and favourites in the group. They had earlier beaten Kerala.

Dixit made 92 while Jonty Sidhu scored 97 as Delhi were all out for 355 in first innings. Rajesh Sharma made 52 while Rishabh Pant scored 50. Dixit then took 7/74 as Saurashtra were bundled out for 192. Following on, hosts Saurashtra could make only 313 runs with Samarth Vyas scoring 74 and Priyajit Chudasama 56. Sagar Malik took 6/77. Delhi, needing 151, romped home with eight wickets to spare. Rishabh Pant made 77 not out while Sarthak Ranjan scored 65.

Delhi 355 (Jonty Sidhu 97, Vikas Dixit 92, Rajesh Sharma 52, Rishabh Pant 50) and 154/2 (Rishabh Pant 77*, Sarthak Ranjan 65) beat Saurashtra 192 (Vikas Dixit 7/74) and 313 Samarh Vyas 74, Priyajit Chudasama 56, Sagar Malik 6/77)

 

Delhi lose to Himachal, may crash out

The start of the domestic season has been disastrous for Delhi. On Monday, they suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Himachal Pradesh. It is a loss that has put their qualification chances in jeopardy.
They lost to Jammu and Kashmir in the first game before beating Punjab in the second game. This latest loss has put them on the backfoot. Surprisingly, Delhi has all the firepower with their star-studded line-up. But none of it has come good.
Gautam Gambhir fell in early 20s again while Virender Sehwag and Unmukt Chand both made 11. Paceman Ashish Nehra, despite getting a seamer-friendly track, went for 68 in his 10 overs. It was a poor show by Nehra, going for 6.8, when the Himachal run-rate was well below 5.
Delhi will need to win their last two games, against Services and Haryana, to have any chances of making it to the knockout phase.
Himachal Pradesh 244/6 in 50 overs (Raghav Dhawan 89, Rishi Dhawan 41, R Bhatia 3/42) beat Delhi 231 in 50 overs (Milind Kumar 69, Rajat Bhatia 34, Raghav Dhawan 3/47)

Delhi beat Punjab to stay alive in Vijay Hazare

With former India stars waning, the crowd at Nadaun in Himachal Pradesh that had gathered to see them were in for disappointment on Saturday. Virender Sehwag flopped while Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir too couldn’t get going as Delhi beat Punjab in their second match of the North Zone one-day league of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Punjab were restricted to 182/6 in 45 overs as Sumit Narwal picked three wickets for 23 runs. Yuvi could make just 15 in 34 balls with two boundaries. It was a tough wicket to bat on. In reply, Delhi 188/6 in 44 overs but not without early jitters. Sehwag, opening the innings, fell for a duck while Gambhir could make just 22. It was left to Rajat Bhatia once again. He made unbeaten 58 while Puneet Bisht scored 30 as a 51-run partnership between the two brought Delhi out of a hole.
The win came as a relief for Delhi who were criticised after losing their first match to J&K. Former Delhi and India player Surinder Khanna lamented the loss by sending out his trademark SMS and hitting out at the sports committee.
The win over Punjab brings Delhi back and opens up the league. J&K have surprisingly won both their matches. Punjab have lost both. It will be interesting to see how things pan out in the next few days. One thing is for sure, this North Zone league will go down to the wire.
Punjab 182/6 in 45 overs (T Kohli 50, Gurkeerat 47, S Narwal 3/23) lost to Delhi 188/6 in 44 overs (R Bhatia 58*, P Bisht 30, Amitoze 3/23)

Delhi lose to Jammu and Kashmir in Vijay Hazare

So Yashpal Sharma’s elevation to the chairmanship of the Delhi selection committee didn’t have the desired effect. Yashpal, who replaced Chetan Chauhan, oversaw the selection of a team that was full of oldies. All the Delhi stars, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Unmukt Chand flopped as Delhi crashed to a two-wicket defeat against lowly Jammu and Kashmir in the first match of the North Zone one-day league for Vijay Hazare Trophy being played at Himachal Pradesh.

Jammu and Kashmir, who were troubled by the recent floods and had to shift preparations to Mohali, skittled out Delhi for 212. From 59/0, Samiullah Beigh made it 73/3 removing the top 3. Only half-centuries from Milind Kumar and Rajat Bhatia helped them get past 200. It was not enough as Parvez Rasool and then Beigh took them past the Delhi total. With Sehwag not showing any great form and Gambhir only coming up with occasional performances, the pressure is on them to perform.

Delhi 212 (Milind Kumar 61, Rajat Bhatia 50, S Beigh 3/35) lost to J&K 216/8 (Parvez Rasool 74, P Awana 3/40)

 

Delhi get three points over Kerala in U-19

Captain Himmat Singh’s 50, Rajesh Sharma’s 61 and Kunwar Biduri’s 70 helped Delhi beat Kerala via first innings lead and get three points in the Cooch Behar U-19 cricket tournament. Delhi had made 283 in the first innings to which Kerala replied with just 223.
Delhi 283 & 312 vs Kerala 223

Parents get worked up, want to sue NCT

When the Delhi Under-19 team was announced ahead of the zonal one-dayers recently, Bishan Singh Bedi expressed disgust at some of the selections. In a letter dated October 1, he lashed out at seven selections calling them a result of proxies and influential people. He named Suryansh Tyagi, Utkarsh Singh, Viren Singh, Tejas Broca, Karan Bidhuri, Arjun Khanna and Ishan Kantewala as those undeserving and forced into the team for the Vinoo Mankad games.

Well, it wasn’t exactly wrong criticism. The Delhi team management didn’t play all of them and of those that played, one or two did come up with important knocks. Irrespective of the criticism, the team went to win the North Zone league which was largely thanks to efforts of vice-captain and dashing batsman Himmat Singh who hammered two back to back hundreds and got a half-century as well.

There is no doubt that Himmat is one of the best talents around and the selectors, rightly it seems pushed the Modernite’s name for captaincy for the days’ version --- the Cooch Behar Trophy. Quite a few of the names mentioned above are in the U-19 team, and their parents have reportedly threatened to sue the officials of NCT (the body formed by Bedi & Co for fighting the ills in DDCA) if they continue to malign the names. An official with the current sports committee confided that the parents are ready to sue the officials if they don’t stop spilling the beans.

 

With elections around, frustration over non-payment hits top gear

As elections to the DDCA Sports Committee near, there is a lot of tension building up. For those who may not know, then here is a fresh take on the old issue that keeps cropping up time and again. With the season coming to an end, umpires officiating at the DDCA league matches are getting nothing and neither is anything being paid to curators. An umpire recently told Delhi Cricket that many people are planning to leave the job because they are not getting the money due to them.

Two reports this year, one in the Hindustan Times which touched upon the point that the groundsmen are not getting anything and therefore chief curator Venkat Sundaram had quit and another in The Hindu which talked about non-payment to umpires, have brought the issue to light.

At the heart of this controversy is a clause in the Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956, under which the DDCA has been constituted. It disallows payment to the members. In this case, many officials, including umpires, curators, coaches and selectors are ineligible to be paid as they also happen to be members.

Sunil Dev, the sports secretary, is reportedly not signing cheques that are due to umpires. Sports Committee officials, including chairman, Ahmad Tameem has made their displeasure known. However, Dev denies it and says he is willing to sign them. “I have no problems and I am ready to sign,” he says.

Speaking on the issue, DDCA president Sneh Bansal clarified to Delhi Cricket, “Who says Sunil Dev is not signing the cheques. He is ready to do so. It is just that a clause doesn’t allow payments to members. Now, if we release cheques to the non-members, won’t the members feel bad? We have written to the ministry of corporate affairs and are awaiting their reply. If they give the go-ahead then we would make payments, otherwise we’ll think of a solution.”

That Arun Jaitley is the Union Finance Minister may just help DDCA’s cause a bit and it would be a relief to many who are sweating it out in scorching summer.

In the case of no permission, the likely solution is that non-members will be paid the money as fees while members will be paid under the head ‘expenses’.

However, the current Sports Committee, which has decided to change a lot of things, is getting edgy. They want the payments to be made before the elections take place (in July) and therefore are not blamed for the impasse.