Delhi, March 7

Delhi v Railways

Delhi cruised into the semifinal stage of the 2011-12 Vijay Hazare competition after hammering Railways by seven wickets in their quarterfinal encounter played at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium played here in Delhi.

After being put in to bat by the hosts, Railways were dismissed for a modest 175, a score that would have been even lower had it not been for No. 7 batsman Ashish Yadav’s 79-ball 59. Rajat Bhatia was the pick of the bowlers for Delhi, the medium-pacer finishing with figures of 10-0-30-3. Parvinder Awana, Pawan Suyal and Pradeep Sangwan picked up two wickets each.

With Gautam Gambhir returning to bolster the Delhi squad, the Railways’ score was not going to be much of a threat to the hosts. Shikhar Dhawan blitzed his way to a 69-ball 69 while Gambhir remained unbeaten 34 as Delhi galloped to 178 for the loss of three wickets in just 37.4 overs. Delhi opener Mohit Sharma also contributed with a 64-ball 36 and shared a 97-run opening stand with Dhawan.

Punjab v Hyderabad

Punjab beat Hyderabad to become the fourth team to qualify for the 2011-12 Vijay Hazare Trophy semi-finals. Left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma was Punjab’s hero as he came good with an all-round performance to lead his side past Hyderabad with a five-wicket win.

Hyderabad, who opted to bat first after winning the toss, were looking good for a big score at 79 for one, but then collapsed to 175 all out in 49.2 overs, in a curious reflection of the Railways’ score in their encounter against Delhi on the same day. Bipul led the attack in partnership with legbreak bowler Rahul Sharma, the pair taking seven wickets between them for just 71 runs in 20 overs.

Chasing that modest score, Punjab stuttered their way to 88 for five in the 25th over. However, an unbeaten 78 (from 120 balls) from opener Chandan Madan and a 48-ball 41* from Bipul saw Punjab march into the semifinals in the 42nd over.

Joining Delhi and Punjab in the semifinal stage are Bengal and Mumbai, who won their respective quarterfinal encounters yesterday. The two semifinals will now be played in Delhi on March 10.