Gambhir, Sehwag star in Delhi’s 4th straight win
Chandigarh: Gautam Gambhir led from the front with a breezy unbeaten 75 as Delhi cruised to a nine-wicket win over Haryana to record their fourth straight victory in a North Zone leg match here on Friday.
Set a target of 141 runs by Haryana, star pair of Gambhir and Virender Sehwag (49) once again sizzled with the bat for Delhi, putting on a 96-ball 121-run stand for the opening wicket to set the platform for the win here.
While Sehwag’s was an unusually sedate knock, Gambhir was at his attacking best.
Gambhir’s runs came off 53 balls during which he struck seven boundaries and three sixes. Sehwag, on the other hand, played second fiddle and hit just three fours and one six during his 50-ball knock.
Earlier, Haryana rode on half centuries from opener Avi Barot (51 off 42) and Guntashveer Singh (64 off 49) to post 140 for seven after opting to bat.
The lanky Ishant Sharma was the pick of the bowlers for Delhi with figures of four for nine from his quota of four overs.
Brief Scores: Haryana: 140/7 in 20 overs (Guntashveer Singh 64, Avi Barot 51; Ishant Sharma 4/9) lost to Delhi: 142/1 in 17.3 overs (Gautam Gambhir 75 not out, Virender Sehwag 49; Harshal Patel 1/32) by 9 wickets.
Himachal beat J&K
Chandigarh: Himachal Pradesh defeated Jammu and Kashmir by 17 runs at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali to register their second win in the tournament.
Sent in to bat, Himachal could only muster 127 for eight before coming out with an impressive bowling display to bundle out J&K for 110 in 19.3 overs.
Brief Scores: Himachal Pradesh: 127/8 in 20 overs (Rishi Dhawan 44; Waseem Raza 3/21) beat J&K: 110 all out in 19.3 overs (Abid Nabi 39, Pranav Gupta 28; Akshay Chauhan 4/16) by 17 runs.
Yusuf powers Baroda to fourth consecutive win
Mumbai: Riding on skipper Yusuf Pathan’s brilliant unbeaten half century, Baroda registered their fourth successive win by thrashing Maharashtra by six wickets in a West Zone leg match here on Friday.
Opting to bat, Maharashtra posted a modest 139 for seven, which Baroda chased down with 15 balls to spare.
Brief Scores: Maharashtra: 139/7 (Rahul Tripathi 32, Harshad Khadiwale 23; Irfan Pathan 2/37) lost to Baroda: 142/4 (Yusuf Pathan 57, Rakesh Solanki 40; Shrikant Mundhe 2/26) by 6 wickets.
Saha leads Bengal to 72-run win over Tripura
Kolkata: Wriddhiman Saha continued his sparkling form as his successive half-century fashioned Bengal’s 72-run win over Tripura in their East Zone league for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament played at the JU second campus ground in Salt lake on Friday.
Saha was at his devastating best slamming three sixes and nine boundaries for a 37-ball 71 to set the tempo, while Pankaj Shaw, Sanjib Sanyal and Arnab Nandi toyed with the Tripura attack to post a huge 196/5 after electing to bat.
Tripura were never really in the game and began disastrously to be eight for three that included inform skipper Yogesh Takawale as Ashok Dinda (2/13) struck twice in two overs.
In no time they were reduced to 27/5 before Kaushal Acharjee put some life into the chase with a fighting 41 from 36 balls (5x4, 1x6) but it was not enough as Bengal restricted Tripura to 124/8 in 20 overs for their third win in as many matches to virtually make the main round.
Brief Scores: Bengal: 196/5 in 20 overs (Wriddhiman Saha 71, Pankaj Shaw 38 not out, Arnab Nandi 26, Sanjib Sanyal 25 not out, Manoj Tiwary 25) beat Tripura: 124/8 in 20 overs (Kaushal Acharjee 41, Vijay Bhardwaj 23) by 72 runs.
Odisha registers 4-run win against Jharkhand
Kolkata: Disciplined bowling by Basant Mohanty and Paresh Patel helped Odisha register a four-run win over Jharkhand in a thrilling East Zone league match for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament at the Eden Gardens on Friday.
Sarfaraj Ashraf foxed Odisha with his guile and returned with 5/25 to restrict Odisha to 119/8 after they elected to bat but the rookie left-armer’s magnificent effort went in vain with Jharkhand batters putting up a mindless display.
Having returned wicketless, Basant Mohanty might not have found his name in the scores section but the Odisha pacer played a crucial role with tidy bowling figures of 4-1-11-0 that set up the win.
Brief Scores: Odisha: 119/8 in 20 overs (Natraj Behera 23, Anurag Sarangi 22; Sarfaraz Ashraf 5/25) beat Jharkhand: 115/6 in 20 overs (Virat Singh 40, Kumar Deobrat 39; Paresh Patel 3/22) by 4 runs.
Bhajji shines with bat
Mohali: In an unusual but successful move, skipper Harbhajan Singh promoted himself to No.3 position and smashed a 50-ball 78, thus playing a pivotal role in Punjab’s nine-run win over Services here on Friday.
While Harbhajan was the top scorer, Himanshu Chawla also hit a quickfire 50 off 34 balls as they enabled Punjab reach a competitive total of 154 for six in their allotted 20 overs. The hosts then restricted Services to 145 for nine, thanks to leg-spinner Rahul Sharma’s impressive bowling figures of 4-0-21-4 and some great work on the field that resulted in three run-outs.
Brief Scores: Punjab: 154/6 (Harbhajan Singh 78, Himanshu Chawla 50; Arnav Kush 2/37) beat Services: 145/9 (Soumya Swain 46, Yashpal Singh 24; Rahul Sharma 4/21) by 9 runs.