Chandigarh beat HP in Mushtaq Ali opener

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 8

A blistering ton by Shivam Bhambri helped Chandigarh beat Himachal Pradesh by nine runs in their rain-affected opening match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the Sector 16 stadium here today. 

Opting to bat, Chandigarh rode on Bhambri's 57-ball 106 to score 167/5 in 20 overs. Opener Amit Parashar added 24 runs to the total.

Himachal, in reply, were struggling on 84/4 in 11.3 overs when rain brought an early end to the match. Chandigarh were declared winners on VJD method.  

Needing to score 8.40 runs per over for victory, Himachal were rocked early as they lost skipper Ankush Bains in the third over. He was caught by Bhambri off Barinder Sran on six. 

Ekant Sen, who walked in at the fall of Bains' wicket, faced seven balls for his three runs before he was sent back to the hut by Bipul Sharma. 

With the visitors struggling at 16/2 in 3.5 overs, Prashant Chopra and Amit Kumar provided the much needed impetus to the Himachal innings. The duo added 53 runs in 35 balls before Gurinder Singh struck for the hosts. Chopra was castled after scoring a quick-fire 40.

Eleven balls later, Gurinder removed Amit Kumar to reduce Himachal to 84/4. The skies opened up at the same time and the umpires decided to stop the play. 

Earlier, the hosts lost skipper Manan Vohra early. He was caught by Mayank Dagar off Pankaj Jaiswal on five. 

Vohra's departure brought Bhambri to the crease and the right-hander wasted no time in putting the Himachal attack to the task. 

The 24-year-old sent the Himachal bowlers on a leather hunt as he smashed seven sixes and 11 boundaries to brought up his century before he was dismissed by Kanwar Singh in the 19th over.  

Sarandeep Singh smashed an unbeaten 17 while Ankit Kaushik remained not out on two as Chandigarh eventually reached 167/5 in 20 overs. 

Brief scores

Chandigarh 167/5 in 20 overs (Shivam Bhambri 106; Pankaj Jaiswal 2/40) beat Himachal Pradesh 84/4 in 11.3 overs (Prashant Chopra 40; Gurinder Singh 2/13)

Hyderabad 149/7 in 20 overs (Akshath Reddy 47, Tanmay Agarwal 42; Sandeep Sharma 3/11, Siddarth Kaur 3/44) beat Punjab 97/4 in 14 overs (Shubman Gill 48; Chama Milind 1/13, Ravi Teja 1/22)

Gill’s 48 in vain as Punjab lose to Hyderabad by 2 runs 

Shubman Gill’s 48 off 42 balls was not enough as Punjab suffered a narrow two-run defeat against Hyderabad in a rain-truncated T20 match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at Government Model Senior Secondary School ground in  Sector 26. 

Electing to bowl in the Group C match, Punjab restricted Hyderabad to 149/7 in 20 overs. 

Akshath Reddy top-scored with 47 off just 27 balls. Sandeep Sharma and Siddarth Kaul grabbed three wickets each. 

Punjab’s target was reworked to 100 from 14 overs due to rain but they could only score 97/4.