Calcutta: Propelled by centuries from former Test player Ajay Jadeja and Rajat Bhatia, Delhi edged past a fighting Tamil Nadu by 19 runs in a national one-day meet match on Monday.

Tamil Nadu’s decision to field first seemed to have yielded results initially when they forced Jadeja’s team reeling at 56 for three after 13 overs. That included the India Test opener Akash Chopra’s second-ball dismissal, when he snicked a D. Tamil Kumaran delivery behind the wicket. However, Jadeja found an able partner in Bhatia as the duo put Delhi into a position of strength. The pair stitched together 203 runs in helping Delhi post the highest total of the meet — 279. Jadeja hit consecutive sixes to reach his century (104) while Bhatia remained unbeaten on 106.

Madanlal’s son, Kunal, handed Delhi an early breakthrough. But Anirudh Srikkanth, a natural strokeplayer like his father, gelled well with captain S. Suresh to keep their chase on track. After their departures, that job was handed to S. Sharath and S. Badrinath. Both of them were getting along nicely till Jadeja came up with a brilliant catch at square-leg to dismiss Sharath.

Then, two dreadful run outs — of Badrinath and K.S. Vasudevan, with Sarandeep Singh being the executioner on both occasions — took place at a crucial stage and totally upset the tempo.

BRIEF SCORES

Delhi 279/5 in 50 ovs (Rajat Bhatia 106 n.o., Ajay Jadeja 104, Mayank Tehlan 42; R. Ramkumar 2/53). Tamil Nadu 260 in 47.4 ovs (S. Suresh 54, S. Badrinath 48, K.S. Vasudevan 35, Anirudh Srikkanth 34; Bhatia 2/40, Sarandeep Singh 2/46, Kunal Lal 2/50). Delhi won by 19 runs.