Captain Nitish Rana’s scintillating century helped Delhi register a comfortable 12-run win over Punjab in the Group B League stage of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament here on Wednesday. T20 specialist and Kolkata Knight Riders star Rana scored a century of 107 runs in 61 balls with the help of nine fours and seven sixes as Delhi posted a strong total of 191 for four in 20 overs. In reply, Punjab’s team could only manage 179 for five in which Ishant Sharma took two wickets for 35 runs in his four overs.
Rana also dazzled with his ‘off break’ bowling, picking up two wickets for 24 runs in three overs. Rana faced only 55 balls for his maiden T20I century and added 173 runs in just 16.4 overs with U-19 World Cup winning Indian captain Yash Dhul (66 not out off 45 balls). It was also Dhul’s first half-century in the shorter format. Dhul was playing only his second T20 match, he hit four fours and as many sixes during his innings.
Rana and Dhul scored a lot of runs especially against Punjab Kings left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar. Against this bowler, he added 32 runs in two overs with two fours and three blazing sixes. A lot of runs were scored against all the Punjab bowlers except Abhishek Sharma. Abhishek performed brilliantly with the new ball in the powerplay over, taking two wickets for 16 runs in three overs. In the other matches of the group, Uttar Pradesh lost to Tripura by six wickets.
Uttar Pradesh posted a score of 163 for six, which Tripura achieved by scoring 166 for four in 19.3 overs with the help of an unbeaten 49 from Sudip Chatterjee. Hyderabad scored 147 for eight with Tilak Verma’s (57 runs) half-century to register a four-run win over Puducherry. Goa won by seven wickets in 17.2 overs to beat Manipur’s 134 for nine with a half-century from Siddhesh Ladd (59 runs).
