NEW DELHI: Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant anchored Delhi with composed half-centuries, while Gujarat's batting unravelled at crucial moments as Delhi scraped through to a tense seven-run victory in their Elite Group D Vijay Hazare Trophy clash in Bengaluru on Friday.

Player of the Match Kohli struck a fluent 77 off 61 deliveries, while Pant added a measured 70 from 79 balls to guide Delhi to a competitive 254 for 9 in their 50 overs. Gujarat showed promise in the chase but eventually crumbled to 247 all out in 47.4 overs, falling just short of the target.

Meet Vishal Jayswal, who shocked the cricket world by dismissing Virat Kohli in Vijay Hazare Trophy

The spotlight remained firmly on Kohli and Pant, whose contrasting innings shaped the contest. Kohli was once again forced to arrive early following the dismissal of opener Priyansh Arya and immediately looked at ease at the crease.

After watchfully defending his first delivery, Kohli unfurled a trademark straight drive off pacer Chintan Gaja for four, underlining his sparkling form and setting the tone for his authoritative knock.

While other Delhi batters were often pushed to a tight corner by Gujarat bowlers, Kohli was fluency personified in his pet format of the game. A pulled six off Gaja and a stunning flicked four off Arzan Nagwaswalla followed as Kohli slipped into the top gear.

The 37-year-old reached his fifty in 29 balls that had 10 fours and a six in a wonderful exhibition of shot-making. The veteran batter brought up his 85th List A half-century off Ravi Bishnoi, carving the leg-spinner for a boundary over the covers.

A second century on the trot looked a certainty but a lovely ball from left-arm spinner Jayswal (4/42) ended his tenure.

Jayswal detected Kohli's little shimmy very early, and fired one past the batter to get him stumped by Urvil. Delhi was 108 for four then, and required some momentum to drag the innings back on track.

A couple of overs back, Jayswal had also accounted for Nitish Rana and Arpit.

But Delhi found a saviour in skipper Pant, who eschewed his aggressive tendencies to keep his side’s innings together.

There were no archetypal Pant shots until he went past fifty in 64 balls. The first sign of innovation came in the 66th ball when he tried to execute a falling-scoop off Bishnoi, and 12 balls later he again attempted a similar shot off Gaja.

However, Pant’s growing impatience finally ended in him losing the sticks to Jayswal, also signalling the end of a 73-run alliance with Harsh Tyagi (40).

Simarjeet and Ishant Sharma added 19 runs for the final wicket to take Delhi past the 250-run mark.

Gujarat implode

Chasing 255 was not precisely a tough target even on a slightly tacky BCCI Centre of Excellence pitch, but Gujrat made heavy weather of it.

In fact, they made a gradual yet confident start with two fine stands — 67 for the first wicket between Urvil Patel (31), who was dropped on 31, and Aarya Desai (57), and 54 between Aarya and Abhishek Desai for the following wicket.

It helped Gujarat reach 121 for 1 in 25 overs.

But from there they lost Aarya, Abhishek, Jaymeet Patel and Hemang Patel while adding a mere 23 runs to slip to 144 for five. Saurav Chauhan (49, 43b) and Vishal Jayswal added 69 runs for the sixth wicket to keep Gujarat in the hunt.

Chauhan, once played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL, was impressive while hammering Arpit for two sixes to keep the asking rate in check.

But Simarjeet Singh, who copped some stick earlier from Aarya, redeemed himself with the wicket of Chauhan as Gujarat again lost wickets in a cluster in the business end.

The run out of Gaja left Gujarat to make 12 runs off 17 balls with a wicket in hand, but the impressive Prince Yadav (3/37) caught Bishnoi off the guard with a snorter.

Kohli ran in from covers to gleefully accept the catch and let out a massive roar to signal Delhi's victory.

(With PTI Inputs)