New Delhi: Naman Ojha's deplorable on-field behaviour stopped proceedings for 20 minutes but couldn't stop Delhi from thrashing Madhya Pradesh by 75 runs in a group B encounter of Vijay Hazare Trophy on Thursday.

Batting first, Delhi scored 284 for 8 riding on Nitish Rana's 98-ball-107 studded with 10 fours and three sixes.

Having already lost focus due to their captain's outbursts, MP could manage only 209 in 42.4 overs as part-time off-spinner Lalit Yadav picked up five for 25.

Delhi now have 22 points from seven games and look good to qualify for the quarter-finals of the National championship.

The incident that marred the proceedings happened in the 28th over of the innings.

Left handed Rana, then on 26, played a sweep shot off left-arm spinner Rameez Khan and the fielder at square leg took a catch. The MP players started celebrating as Rana stood his ground.

Umpire Rajeev Godara then walked up to square leg umpire Navdeep Singh and after discussion asked for referral from the third umpire (match referee in this case).

After watching the feed, match referee Nitin Goel ruled not out after which Ojha, who has played a Test, ODI and couple of T20Is completely lost it.

He wagged his finger at Godara with an angry outburst questioning his competence as first-class umpire.

Match referee Goel had to enter the field as proceedings were halted for close to 20 minutes after which match started again.

Ojha might get some strict sanctions for bringing the game to disrepute as Goel is expected to submit a detailed report.

Once the game resumed, Rana duly completed his hundred and Dhruv Shorey (67) added 147 runs for the third wicket.

Earlier, skipper Gautam Gambhir (41) and Unmukt Chand (41) added 89 runs for the opening stand to provide a platform for Shorey and Rana.

While chasing, MP were never in the game as pitch got slower and Lalit bowled wicket to wicket to end up with maiden five wicket haul.

Brief Scores:

Delhi 284/8 in 50 overs (Nitish Rana 107 off 98 balls, Dhruv Shorey 67 off 87 balls). MP 209 in 42.4 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 53, Lalit Yadav 5/25). Delhi won by 75 runs.

Odisha 197 in 49.2 overs (Biplab Samantray 62 off 79 balls, Jaydev Unadkat 3/39)

Saurashtra 145 in 38.4 overs (Sheldon Jackson 40, Gobind Poddar 3/33). Odisha won by 52 runs.

Bihar thrash Manipur, inch closer to quarters

Nadiad: Bihar thrashed Manipur by eight wickets to record their sixth win and inch closer to the quarterfinal berth in the Vijay Hazare Trophy domestic one-dayers in Nadiad on Thursday.

Chasing a paltry 173, Bihar cruised to the target in 29.1 overs with Babul Kumar (100 not out from 95 balls; 15x4, 1x6) and MD Rahmatullah (50 not out from 48 balls; 8x4) steering their innings in a plate group fixture.

Back from cricket exile after nearly 18 years, Bihar now have 26 points from seven matches, with one being abandoned, as they face Mizoram in their final plate group league fixture at Vadodara on 8 October.

Earlier, Yashpal Singh waged a lone battle, scoring 134 not out of Manipur's 172/8 after they opted to bat at the GS Patel Stadium here.

Rehan Khan (3/39) and Anunay Singh (2/24) rattled Manipur's start and the latter also effected a run-out to reduce them to 37/5 inside 21 overs.

Yashpal was the lone batsman standing for Manipur as they were restricted to 172/8 in the stipulated 50 overs.

In another match, Meghalaya rode on Punit Bisht's 149 from 106 balls to beat Sikkim by 149 runs at the Shastri Maidan in Anand.

Megahalay piled up 315/5 with skipper Jason Lamare giving a fine support to Bisht in a 145-run partnership for the third wicket.

At the Motibaug ground in Vadodara, Akshay Jain bagged 5 for 13, while off-spinner Fabid Ahmed returned with excellent figures of 9-3-8-4 as Puducherry skittled out Arunachal Pradesh for 95 in 34.1 overs on way to a seven-wicket win.

Summarised scores:

At Anand: Meghalaya 315/5; 50 overs (Punit Bisht 149, Jason Lamare 55, Yogesh Nagar 44) beat Sikkim 166/9; 50 overs (Gurinder Singh 4/20) by Meghalaya 149 runs.

At Nadiad: Manipur 172/8; 50 overs (Yashpal Singh 134 not out: Rehan Khan 3/39) lost to Bihar 176/2; 29.1 overs (Babul Kumar 100 not out, Rahamatullah 50 not out) by eight wickets.

At Vadodara: Arunachal Pradesh 95; 34.1 overs (Akshay Jain 5/13, Fabid Ahmed 4/8) lost to Puducherry 100/3; 18.2 overs (Abhishek Nayar 65 not out) by seven wickets.