NEW DELHI, January 21: Delhi and Osmania universies stormed into the final of the All India Inter-Varsity cricket tournament for the Rohinton Baria Trophy, defeating Madras and Devi Ahilya universities, respectively, in the semi-finals at Gulbarga (Karnataka) today, according to reports reaching here.Delhi scored a narrow one-wicket victory over Madras with seven balls to spare while Osmania thrashed Devi Ahilya by six wickets.Electing to bat first, Madras scored a formidable 299 for seven in the allotted 50 overs with Arunkumar (60), J Harish (57) and captain Vasanth Saravanan (54) making handsome contributions. Harish and Vasanth added a valuable 71 runs for the fourth wicket.Facing a daunting target of 300 runs to win, Delhi started disastrously as both the openers were back in the pavilion with just 42 runs on board. But a 79-run partnership for the third wicket between Deepak (88) and Radhey Shyam Gupta (21) helped Delhi to steady the innings. Sunil Rawat (51) and Varun Kumar (41) ensured that Delhi reached the title round. Off-spinner Raja claimed four wickets for 40 runs to be the most successful bowler for Madras.Earlier, an all-round performance by skipper Harender Chaudhary helped Delhi University defeat M S University (Baroda) by a solitary wicket to enter the semi-final.Harender, a Delhi Ranji Trophy player, first helped his team restrict M S University to 206 in 48.2 overs by claiming three wickets for 35 in his 10-over spell of off-spin bowling. Leg-spinner Shahbaz Mobin gave him ample support at the other end by taking four wickets for 25 runs off six overs.When Dellhi began their reply, Harender Chaudhary came up with a sparkling knock of 56 while Vicky Dheer (45) and Nitin malhotra (20 not out) made useful contributions.Nitish Malik and Nitin Malhotra added 30 runs for the unbroken last wicket to steer Delhi University to reach their target.South Zone champions Osmania needed only 40 overs to score the required 195-run target set by Devi Ahilya and they easily reached the winning score losing only four wickets.Batting first Devi Ahilya, who knocked out reigning champions Guru Nanak Dev University (Amritsar) yesterday, could muster only 198 runs in 48.5 overs as Hyderabad's promising off-spinner Laxminath claimed four wickets for just 21 runs. For Devi Ahilya, Shabad Ali top scored with 55.Osmania replied in a very confident note and scored the winning shot in the 40th over itself. Vijaykumar hit a solid 71 off 95 balls which included three fours and a six. Raghuram (36) and captain Venugopal (30 not out) ably supported Vijaykumar to take their team to a comfortable win.
