Delhi, Bengal Come on top

A collective effort by Delhi’s batsmen ensured that they comfortably chased down a mammoth Railways total with four wickets in hand in the opening Group C match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, here on Saturday.

Railways scored 210/2 in 20 overs on one of the flattest of decks with no. 3 batsman Saurabh Wakaskar scoring 118 off 55 balls with seven boundaries and 11 sixes. He added 185 runs with former RCB player Asad Pathan (85).

However Delhi chased down the target in 19.2 overs as almost all the batsmen save skipper Gautam Gambhir (10), who is out of form, scored runs.

Opener Unmukt Chand started the chase with a 19-ball-38 with four boundaries and three sixes. Nitish Rana with a whirlwind 34 off 15 balls that included four sixes also played his part.

The defining partnership was between Pawan Negi (35 no off 18 balls) and Milind Kumar (23 off 17 balls) as they added 61 runs in 4.5 overs to take the match away from Railways.

Saha,Shami shine for Bengal

Wriddhiman Saha’s brutal innings and Mohammed Shami’s fiery spell ensured an easy 61-run win for Bengal against Hyderabad in their opening Group A league match.

Batting first, Bengal scored a healthy 185/4 in 20 overs courtesy Wriddhiman’s 47-ball-81. In reply, Hyderabad were all out for 124 in 16.2 overs with Shami being the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/18 in 2.2 overs. He got good assistance from the seasoned Pragyan Ojha (3/23 in 4 overs). Bengal got four points by virtue of this win.

Opening the innings, India’s Test wicketkeeper Wriddhiman hit seven boundaries and five huge sixes as he added 138 in 14.2 overs with Sayan Sekhar Mondal (50).

Wriddhiman, who has earlier opened for Bengal and Kings XI Punjab in the shortest format, punished former India U-19 left-armer Chama Milind, hitting him over the ropes on a number of occasion.

In reply, Shami bowling the second over of the innings dismissed Tanmay Agarwal (0) and skipper G Hanuma Vihari (14) to set the ball rolling. Yuvi fails to deliver for Punjab

Yuvraj Singh failed with the bat as minnows Rajasthan shocked Punjab by four wickets in a Group B encounter.

Batting first, Punjab managed a paltry 130/6 in 20 overs with Mandeep Singh smashing 76 off 52 balls with seven fours and three sixes. Yuvraj was dismissed by a slower delivery from Rajat Bhatia, caught by Rajesh Bisnoi.

Save Mandeep, only Gurinder Singh (29 n.o.) crossed the 20-run mark. Bhatia again proved his skills as slow medium pacer in this format with figures of 2/16 in 4 overs.

In reply, Rajasthan were reeling at 76/5 in 14 overs but a 53 run stand between Rajesh Bishnoi (58) and Dishant Yagnik (23 n.o.) put them on the cusp of victory.

Bishnoi hit four boundaries and equal number of sixes in his 32-ball innings. Yuvraj did bowl well taking 2/16 but it was difficult to stop the opposition while defending such a low total. scores (round 1)

Railways 210/2 in 20 overs (Saurabh 118, Asadullakhan 81*) lost to Delhi 214/6 in 19.2 overs (Aditya Kaushik 53, U. Chand 38). J&K 126/6 in 20 overs lost to Kerala 129/5 in 18.4 overs (Rohan Prem 59*). Karnataka 121/9 in 20 overs (R. Raj 3/19) lost to Services 122/7 in 19 overs. Andhra 95/9 in 20 overs (Ishwar Pandey 4/20) lost to Madhya Pradesh 96/5 in 18.2 overs (H.Bhatia 40*).

Maharashtra 109/7 in 12 overs (Kedhar Jadhav 52*, P. Chawla 4/28, A. Rajpoot 3/15) lost to Uttar Pradesh 113/3 in 11.2 overs (P. Gupta 35). Punjab 130/6 in 20 overs (Mandeep Singh 76*) lost to Team Rajasthan 133/6 in 19.4 overs (R. Bishnoi 58). Odisha 91 in 17.4 overs lost to Mumbai 95/4 in 15.5 overs. Bengal 185/4 in 20 overs (W. Saha 81, S. Mandal 50) beat Hyderabad 124 in 16.2 overs (M. Shami 3/18). Haryana 113 in 19.1 overs (N. Saini 50, Antony Dhas 4/10, M. Ashwin 3/28) lost to Tamil Nadu 116/1 in 16 overs (S. Anirudha 54*, B. Aparajith 49*).