Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018: Gambhir follows Kulwant Khejrolia's hat-trick with a hundred to help Delhi reach the semi-final 

Gambhir struck a vintage 104 off just 72 balls against Haryana.

Gautam Gambhir | PTI

Gautam Gambhir celebrated his 37th birthday in grand style as he amassed a brilliant 104 off just 72 balls to take Delhi past Haryana's modest first innings score of 229 in the quarterfinal of the ongoing 2018 Vijay Hazare Trophy on Sunday, October 14. 

The veteran India batsman followed his dominating show after left-arm pacer Kulwant Khejrolia simply ran through the northern rivals and clinched a hat-trick in the process. 

Khejrolia returned with match figures of  6-31 in his 10 overs and was ably supported by Navdeep Saini, who got 3-39. 

Gambhir started off in a vintage free-flowing fashion as he put Haryana's fast bowlers through all corners of the stadium in Bangalore but what again stood out was his excellence against current Indian premier limited overs spinner, Yuzvendra Chahal, whom he smashed for three consecutive boundaries in one over and played spin like only he can. 

After losing Unmukt Chand(15), Gambhir stitched together a fantastic 118-run partnership with Dhruv Shorey - 50 off 84 balls - to take Delhi closer, before he got out caught by Nitin Saini off Rahul Tewatia. 

Nitish Rana(37 off 28) then took his team comfortably past the finishing line. 

For Haryana, Chaitanya Bishnoi performed well and became the best contributor with 85 off 117 balls, while Pramod Chandila struck 59 off 88 balls with three boundaries and a six. 

In the second quarterfinal game of the day, Mumbai rolled over Bihar for just 69 in the first innings and then won the game by nine wickets. 

(Inputs from PTI)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 15 Oct, 2018

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