Bishnoi powers Rajasthan to win Mumbai:
led by skipper Rajesh Bishnoi’s blistering 75 off 36 balls, Rajasthan rallied brilliantly from a difficult situation to beat Kerala by three wickets with a ball to spare for their second straight victory in the Syed Mushtaq Ali All India T20 Group B game on Thursday. Chasing a huge target of 173, Rajasthan started poorly at the Sharad Pawar indoor academy ground in Bandra Kurla Complex with four batsmen back in the hut with only 49 on the board in the eighth over. Bishnoi, who was dropped on nine in the 10th over, capitalised on the reprieve and forged a 47-run stand with Naresh Gehlot and a 32-ball 70-run partnership with Divya Pratap Singh. The Rajasthan captain struck five fours and six sixes in his whirlwind knock before being dismissed by a freak run out in the last ball of the penultimate over.
Brief Scores: Kerala: 172 for 3 (Sanju Samson 68, Rohan Prem 48) lost to Rajasthan 173 for 7 in 19.5 overs (Rajesh Bishnoi 75, Naresh Gehlot 42; Vinod Kumar 2 for 35) by three wickets
Delhi beat Bengal
Mumbai: In another Group B game at the Wankhede Stadium, Delhi scored their first victory in three matches when they thrashed a lacklustre Bengal by seven wickets, thus inflicting the third straight defeat on the eastern side. In the Bengal-Delhi clash, the northern side restricted the former to a paltry 119 for 8 and then easily reached the target for the loss of three wickets with six balls to spare. Put in to bat, Bengal batted poorly and had little to show for barring wicketkeeper and opener Shreevats Goswami’s 40-ball 45 with the help of two sixes and three fours. Sumit Narwal, Javed Khan and Varun Sood picked up two wickets each. Delhi lost opener and captain Puneet Bisht cheaply while chasing the modest target but their innings was steadied by a partnership of 76 in 150 balls between opener Mohit Sharma (41 in 37 balls) and one-down Samarth Singh (39 in 49 balls). Nearing the target Delhi lost both these batsmen in successive balls against left arm pacer Sourav Mondal before Yogesh Nagar (20 not out) and Jagrit Anand (15 not out) guided them home with an unbroken stand of 36 runs. Nagar finished the match with a flourish by striking a six and a four to the mid wicket region in successive balls off Sayan Ghosh. While Bengal are out of reckoning, Delhi too have very slim chances of progressing to the final.
Brief Scores: Bengal 119 for 8 (S Goswami 45, S Narwal 2 for 13, J Khan 2 for 24, V Sood 2 for 32) lost to Delhi 122 for 3 in 19 overs (M Sharma 41, Samarth Singh 39, Y Nagar not out 20, J Anand not out 15; S Mondal 2 for 26) by seven wickets
Haryana win by 6 wickets
Rajkot: Kuldeep Hooda’s five-wicket haul and Guntashveer Singh’s unbeaten 65 helped Haryana beat Jharkhand by 6 wickets in a Sayed Mustaq Ali trophy Group A match here on Thursday. Haryana invited Jharkhand to bat first and restricted them to 146 for nine. While chasing, Guntashveer smashed an unbeaten 65 as Haryana achieved the target losing four wickets, with two overs to spare. Earlier, Ishank Jaggi 57 off 38 balls studded with three fours and three sixes helped Jharkhand to post good 146. However, batsmen Ishan Kishan (15) and Shiv Gautam (16) failed to capitalise after starting off well. Akshadeep Hooda gave initial breakthrough removing Kishan and then Kuldeep Hooda ran through the Jharkhand’s innings, picking up five wickets conceding 31 runs.
Brief scores: Jharkhand: 146 for 9 (Ishank Jaggi 57, Kuldeep Hooda 5-31) lost to Haryana: 149 for 4 off 18 overs (Guntshveer Singh not out 65, Avi Barot 37, Sarfraz Ashraf 1-13) by six wickets.