Delhi will be taking on Gujarat in the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Monday.
This is the second time that Delhi and Gujarat will face each other in the 50-over format.
While Delhi have mainly relied on their team efforts, Gujarat has been dependent on their batting line. Their bowling lineup has been led almost single-handedly by Axar Patel, who is the joint highest wicket-taker of the tournament along with Punjab's Siddharth Kaul. Both the players have bagged 19 scalps in this tournament until now.
"It is great the way preparation for Australia is going. Have batted and bowled well in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. But I am taking it step by step. Right now thinking of the final only. Will think of Australia after that," Gujarat all-rounder Axar Patel said on Sunday ahead of the final.
Delhi will be eyeing their second Vijay Hazare Trophy after 2013 when they defeated Himachal Pradesh in the semi final. The Delhi bowling lineup restricted Himachal Pradesh for a par score of 200. The chase was not that easy for the Delhi lads but Unmukt Chand's talismanic effort with his willow (80*) pushed Delhi into the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
"We can't take any opposition lightly. We were beaten by Assam in the days and that cost us the knockout berth. We lost against Vidarbha, a very close match. We could not chase 163. We have got enough instances for the fact that we can't take any opposition lightly. Of course it being a final, we have to raise the bar in all the three departments and make sure that we put in a 100%, do our best so that we win the finals as well," Unmukt Chand told reporters ahead of the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy on Sunday.
On the other hand, Gujarat will be looking forward to lift the Vijay Hazare Trophy for the first time. They have outclassed the batting-heavy Tamil Nadu by 31 runs in the semi final. Abhinav Mukund's heroics with the bat (104*) could not help Tamil Nadu and they were defeated by 31 runs at the end.
Teams:
Delhi: Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Gautam Gambhir (c), Unmukt Chand, Chama Milind, Nitish Rana, Pawan Negi, Manan Sharma, Subodh Bhati, Ishant Sharma, Navdeep Amardeep Saini.
Gujarat: Priyank Kirit Panchal, Parthiv Patel (c&wk), Jaspreet Bumrah, RP Singh, Chirag Gandhi, Axar Patel, BH Merai, Rush Kalaria, Manpreet Juneja, Rishi Bhatt, Karan P Patel.
Where to watch live:
The final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy between Delhi and Gujarat will be broadcasted live on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD 2. The live streaming option is available on Starsports.com.
