Winless Kerala opted to bowl first against Delhi in the fourth round of the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 at NexGen Cricket Ground, Hyderabad on Saturday (December 28, 2024).

Embattled by the omission of regular skipper Sanju Samson, who reportedly failed to report for a preparatory camp held in Wayanad, Kerala are looking to revive their campaign.

They lost to Baroda by 62 runs in a high-scoring opener, they shared the points with Madhya Pradesh following a no result due to rain.

Delhi, conversely, have played half of their league games -- one win and two defeats. They lost to Bengal and Bihar by six and 17 runs (VJD method), respectively. In between the defeats, they snuck in a win, against Madhya Pradesh by 79 runs.

Other teams in Group E are Tripura and Baroda.

On the other hand, China have qualified for their maiden Asian Champions Trophy final. Their journey to the summit clash has been a rollercoaster ride. They started with a defeat to India but bounced back with a 4-2 win over Malaysia. The hosts then faced a 2-3 loss to South Korea and were also routed 5-1 by Pakistan in the pool stage.

Delhi vs Kerala Playing XIs

Kerala: Rohan Kunnummal, Jalaj Saxena, Shoun Roger, Ahammed Imran, Aditya Sarwate, Sharafuddeen, Salman Nizar (c), Mohammed Azharuddeen (wk), Abdul Basith, Basil Thampi, and Nedumankuzhy Basil.

Delhi: Sarthak Ranjan, Hrithik Shokeen, Sanat Sangwan, Ayush Badoni (c), Himmat Singh, Anuj Rawat(w), Sumit Mathur, Ayush Doseja, Akhil Chaudhary, Prince Yadav, and Ishant Sharma.

The match will not be live streamed or broadcast on television.bmy88