Unmukt Chand pumped the air with his gloved fist and jumped twice before soaking in the applause. The 20-year-old had just completed a century in 117 balls with nine fours and three sixes. He finished with 119 in 131 balls,which included another three hits along the boundary rope. Chand's knock was instrumental in helping Delhi reach 343 against India Red in the third match of the Challenger trophy at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. The total proved too much for India Red as they lost by 112 runs. The win put Delhi in the final against India Blue,which will be played on Sunday. As is his wont,Chand looked to attack at the start of the innings against the medium pacers after India Red skipper Yusuf Pathan elected to field. For all the talk about his talent,and an uncanny ability to scores runs in crunch games,Chand has been criticised for throwing away starts. After five overs,Delhi were 39 for no loss and 21 of those runs were scored by Chand in just 22 deliveries during his opening stand with Gautam Gambhir. Chand brought out punch-drive,the pull and the square cut. The manner in which he tackled the short ball was impressive. There was no sign of apprehension as he either pulled or displayed exemplary defence to knock the ball towards the square leg area with soft hands. Medium pacer Sandeep Warrier paid the price for being short and wide as Chand found a six with a well-timed upper cut. In spite of all the shot-making from Chand,there were early that he was prepared to get his eye in before attacking the bowlers. Chand played out a maiden over - the second over of the Delhi -from Warrier,a upcoming but promising medium-pacer. However,hand did offer a chance when he edged the ball towards Abhivan Mukund at gully off the bowling of Abhimanu Mithun. The spilled chance gave Chand a second life on 37. Along with Virat Kohli,Chand added 93 runs for the second wicket. But what was impressive was Chand's mature approach once the spinners came on. Once Kohli and Sehwag fell in a span for two overs,Chand took the responsibility of ensuring that Delhi didn't suddenly lose momentum. With left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem maintaining fine line and bowling quicker,Unmukt transferred his weight on the back foot and was prepared to play the ball at the very last moment. He slicked the Jharkhand left-arm spinner between point and gully to bring up his half century. With Yusuf Pathan operating from the other end,Chand was prepared to deal in ones and twos rather than trying to make a statement. During the batting powerplay Chand and Milind Kumar hit 15 off one Mithun over. Kumar scored 25 off two Umesh Yadav overs in the powerplay to help Delhi maintain a healthy runrate. In the 42nd over,Unmukt reached the three-figure mark with a glance off Warrier. He punished his next delivery over covers before pulling him to backward square-leg. Eventually,a slower delivery from Mithun crashed into Chand's stumps. Rajat Bhatia's unbeaten knock of 40,which included three towering sixes and as many fours took Delhi to 343. Bhatia scored 24 off Mithun in the last over. India Red lost Robin Uthappa cheaply and though his opening partner Abhimanyu Mithun made 64 and Gurkeerat Singh,batting at No.7 made 83,the rest of the batsmen failed to make an impact as medium pacer Ashish Nehra and left-arm spinner Varun Sood took five and four wickets respectively.
