Rishab Pant was on song as he struck an aggressive 64, two days after smashing the second fastest hundred, to help Delhi beat Services by 22 runs in their Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy match on Tuesday.
Pant, who had scored a 32-ball hundred against Himachal Pradesh – the fastest T20 ton by an Indian and second overall – at the same Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium two days ago, hit 64 off 32 deliveries to held Delhi notched up 225 for 8 after being put into bat. Chasing 226 for a win, Services were all out for 203.
Aditya Tare to lead Mumbai
Wicketkeeper-batsman Aditya Tare will lead a 16-member Mumbai side in the Super League of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy to be played from January 21 in Kolkata.
Baroda and Mumbai have qualified from the West Zone for the Super League. While Mumbai won two of the four games, Baroda emerged victorious in all the four ties at the primary stage, which was conducted at the zonal level. The team for the Super League was declared on Monday by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA).
Squad: Aditya Tare (Captain), Dhawal Kulkarni (Vice Captain), Akhil Herwadkar, Jay Bista, Suryakumar Yadav, Siddhesh Lad Shivam Dube, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Aakash Parkar, Dhrumil Matkar, Shardul Thakur, Eknath Kerkar Parikshit Valsangkar, Shams Mulani and Tushar Deshpande.
UP, Rajasthan qualify from Central Zone
Uttar Pradesh defeated Chhattisgarh by six wickets in a must-win Central Zone league match to qualify for the Super League stage. Their place in the knock-out stage already assured, Rajasthan, however, lost by four wickets to Railways in another Central Zone match.
Both Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh qualified for the knock-outs by finishing first and second respectively in the Central Zone league.
Rajasthan topped the zone by garnering 16 points from four wins and a loss, while Uttar Pradesh (12 points) finished a close second ahead of Ranji Trophy champions Vidarbha (12) on net run rate.
Delhi squad: Selectors drop Sarthak Ranjan
The senior selection committee of DDCA dropped Bihar politician Pappu Yadav’s son Sarthak Ranjan and brought back seasoned Unmukt Chand for the knock- out phase of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Ranjan’s selection for the zonal leg of Mushtaq Ali Trophy created huge controversy as the Atul Wassan-led committee ducked for cover having selected him without seeing him in a single competitive match during the season. Ranjan, in fact, got scores of 31 off 20 balls and 25 off 17 against two of the weakest sides Jammu and Kashmir and Services respectively.
Many in DDCA alleged that the selectors got an escape route in U-23 with regards to Ranjan once the purpose of him being a part of IPL auction was served. “He was strategically played against two of the worst teams in the competition – J&K and Services. Now that he has played two games, he is eligible for IPL auctions,” a DDCA official said.
Squad: Pradeep Sangwan (Captain), Gautam Gambhir, Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Rana, Dhruv Shorey, Unmukt Chand, Milind Kumar, Lalit Yadav, Pawan Negi, Varun Sood, Kulwant Khejroliya, Navdeep Saini, Subodh Bhati, Vikas Tokas, Khistiz Sharma.
Tiwary guides Bengal to win
Skipper Manoj Tiwary produced an all-round performance as Bengal defeated Assam by six wickets to continue their unbeaten run in the East Zone league and seal their place in the Super League stage of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 cricket tournament.
Bengal has been impressive in the tournament so far as they registered their fourth consecutive victory in the East Zone league today. Opting to field, Bengal first restricted Assam to modest 143 for nine and then chased down the target with 17 balls spare.
Bengal are now comfortably placed 16 points from four wins out of as many games, while Assam are yet to taste a success. Meanwhile, Jharkhand also came in striking distance of securing their spot in the Super League stage from East Zone by comfortably beating Odisha by eight wickets. With one match to go in the East one League, Jharkhand are now placed second behind Bengal with 12 points.
Despite the loss, Odisha, with eight points, are still in the fray as a win in their next match can turn the tables around for them.
