Virat Kohli's masterful 131 guides Delhi to comfortable victory over Andhra in Vijay Hazare Trophy

The opening round of the Vijay Hazare Trophy witnessed big scores from some of the India senior men's team members on Wednesday, December 24. In the game between Delhi and Andhra, it was Virat Kohli who scored a splendid 131 off 101 balls to help his team win the game comfortably with four wickets in hand and 12.2 overs remaining.

Delhi skipper Rishabh Pant won the toss and put Andhra in to bat at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) Ground 2 in Bengaluru. Andhra began cautiously, putting more emphasis on seeing off the new ball in the morning freshness than taking undue risks.

Ashwin Hebbar (10 off 30) was the first to go as Prince Yadav bowled him in the 10th over. Andhra were dealt another blow soon in the form of KS Bharat (13 off 33), who was scalped by Simarjeet Singh.

SK Rasheed (31 off 56) and Ricky Bhui rebuilt the innings as the pair formed a 92-run partnership before the former was caught behind. Bhui (122 off 105) joined forces with Nithish Kumar Reddy (23 off 21) and the duo put on a quickfire 72-run partnership off 54 balls.

A few cameos down the order pushed the Andhra score to 298/8 in their 50 overs. For Delhi, Simarjeet Singh was the pick of the bowlers, taking a fifer (5/54). Prince Yadav (3/50) was the other wicket-taker.

Delhi began the chase with an early setback in the form of Arpit Rana (0 off 2). But that brought Virat to the crease in the very first over. The India veteran looked at ease and continued in the rich vein of form that he was in during the South Africa series. 

He, along with Priyansh Arya, formed a formidable partnership to take the game away from Andhra. The duo punished the Andhra bowlers with Arya taking the initiative. The 24-year-old scored a quickfire 74 off 44 balls with seven fours and five sixes to go with it.

Meanwhile, Kohli, who was going well at the other end, was joined by Nitish Rana (77 off 55). The India star reached his half-century in 39 balls and did not look back at any stage. The pair found the going easy as they toyed with the bowling. Kohli was cruising in his trademark style and scored his runs at a fast pace. 

The 37-year-old reached his hundred in 84 balls and was looking at the pavilion to see if the team management was planning to retire him out. They were not, and Kohli continued on his merry ways to finish his innings on 131, comprising 14 fours and three sixes. By the time he was out, the match was in Delhi's grasp with just 25 runs more needed. A minor hiccup followed, but the result was in their favour nonetheless.

Most of the Andhra bowlers had expensive spells to show. Even Reddy was taken to the cleaners by Kohli as he finished with figures of 1/49 in five overs. Simarjeet Singh was adjudged as the Player of the Match.

Delhi face Gujarat at the CoE's Ground 1 on Friday, December 26, while Andhra clash against Railways in Alur on the same day.