Delhi lost their second game in a row after their star studded batting line-up, including the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, failed to fire against Himachal Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament here on Tuesday.
Delhi lost the game by 48 runs after their batsmen could only manage 115 for nine in reply to Himachal's 163 for five.
Dhawan (12) failed for the second game in a row and it was a third failure for skipper Gamhbir (6) in as many innings.
Delhi had lost to Punjab yesterday after winning their opener against Jammu and Kashmir. They play Haryana in Dharamsala tomorrow.
An all-round batting effort helped Himachal post a decent total.
They lost opener Prashant Chopra in the first over before Ankush Bains (23) and Paras Dogra (42) forged a 59-run stand. What followed later was the match winning partnership between Bipul Sharma (32 not out) and Rishi Dhawan (37 not out), who smashed 70 runs off 34 balls in their sixth wicket partnership.
Delhi started their chase badly losing both Dhawan and Gambhir inside three overs.
The match was pretty much decided with Delhi reeling at 28 for five in the fifth over. Milind Kumar (31) and Pradeep Sangwan (24( tried their best to get Delhi back into the game but the damage had already been done.
In the other North Zone matches, Jammu and Kashmir upset Punjab by 26 runs, and Haryana beat Services by 16 runs.
TN, Karnataka seal victories
Opening batsman Abhinav Mukund struck an aggressive unbeaten 68 to help Tamil Nadu notch up a comfortable nine-wicket win over Goa in a South Zone leg match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament here on Tuesday.
Chasing a meagre target of 108 for a win, Tamil Nadu knocked off the required runs in 13.1 overs with Mukund carrying his bat till the end. He hit six fours and two sixes from 52 balls in his 68 not out.
India batsman Murali Vijay, who returned to competitive cricket after spending more than a month on the sidelines with a shoulder injury, made 16 from as many balls before he was run out at Guru Nanak College Ground.
Earlier, opting to bat, Goa were all out for 107 in 16.2 overs as they lost nine wickets for just 19 runs.
Goa's dramatic collapse began in the 11th over with the run-out of Swapnil Asnodkar for 33. It took only six overs for their innings to crash from 88 for 1 to 107 all out, with three run-outs in all.
Six of the seven wickets that fell to bowlers came courtesy the spinners, with Murugan Ashwin, Rahil Shah and Baba Aparajith taking two wickets each.
In another South Zone match at M A Chidambaram Stadium, Pavan Deshpande's 28-ball 51, his maiden T20 fifty, and Mayank Agarwal's brisk 46 helped Karnataka beat Andhra by 37 runs.
Opting to bat, Karnataka piled on 177 for 8 with Agarwal stitching a 57-run partnership with Shishir Bhavane which helped Karnataka recover from the loss of R Samarth in the first over.
Karnataka's bowlers then collectively stifled Andhra, especially in the middle overs to win the match.
Odisha, Bengal win
Odisha and Bengal secured thrilling last-over wins over their respective opponents in the East Zone leg matches of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament at Eden Gardens here on Tuesday.
Batsmen sealed a three-wicket win for Odisha in nerve-wracking 150-run chase against Jharkhand, while later in the afternoon, Bengal seamers trio of Kanishk Seth (3/23), Ashok Dinda (2/28) and Sayan Ghosh (2/20) put up a disciplined effort at the death to pip Tripura by five runs.
Electing to bat, Bengal put up a lacklustre display with the bat as they were 49/4 before Manoj Tiwary (39) and Pankaj Shaw (39 not out) stitched a 61-run fifth wicket partnership before Debabrata Das propped the total to 152/7 with his 11-ball 23.
Tripura almost got past the target. left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha (1/36) leaked 17 runs from his last over with Murasingh hammering him for two boundaries and a six before being dismissed as the Tripura needed just 11 from the last two overs.
But Bengal pace spearhead Dinda turned the match on its head with his twin bursts in the penultimate over when he dismissed Patel and Bunti Roy before Ghosh brilliantly defended five runs in the last over to start their campaign on a winning note.
Odisha, meanwhile, found a fine finisher in Abhishek Yadav who sealed the chase with a ball to spare.