Sehwag, Rawal help Delhi beat Punjab

New Delhi, March 25

Virender Sehwag’s entertaining 39 and Vaibhav Rawal’s whirlwind 31 not out helped Delhi outplay Punjab by six wickets to register their second consecutive win in the North Zone leg of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy here today.

Chasing 160 for a win, the Delhi batsmen put up a concerted effort to achieve the target with three balls to spare. Sehwag’s 35-ball knock included 3 fours and 3 sixes. He was finally done in by a caught and bowled effort from opposition skipper Harbhajan Singh (1-25).

Opener Unmukt Chand contributed with a 17-ball 20 as captain Gautam Gambhir (4) once again failed to get going. Sehwag and Nitish Rana (35) then stitched a 42-run third wicket partnership.

After the two batsmen departed, Delhi were in some trouble before an unbeaten 48-run fifth wicket stand between Milind Kumar (21 not out) and Rawal (31 not out, 13 balls, 2x4s, 2x6s) gave the team another four points.

Dhawan stars in HP

win over Haryana

In other North Zone matches, Himachal Pradesh handed Haryana their second consecutive loss with a 45-run win, while Services stunned Jammu & Kashmir by 6 wickets. Put into bat, the Bipul Sharma-led HP rode on opener Ankush Bains’ 54 and Rishi Dhawan’s unbeaten 51 to post 153 for four in 20 overs.

Leg-spinner Amit Mishra bagged two wickets. The Rahul Dewan-led Haryana faltered in their chase to finish on 108 for eight in their stipulated quota of overs.

Services also handed Jammu and Kashmir their second consecutive loss after the Pervez Rasool-led side lost to Delhi in its opening game. Chasing 106 for a win, Services rode on Yashpal Singh’s unbeaten 39 to achieve their target in 18.1 overs. — PTI

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
Brief scores

• Himachal Pradesh: 153/4 (Bains 53, Dhawan 51*; Mishra 2/22); Haryana: 108/8 in 20 overs (Hooda 27; Dhawan 3/19, Jaiswal 2-14)
• Jammu and Kashmir: 105/9 (Raza 21*; Irfan 4/14);
• Services: 106/4 in 18.1 overs (Yashpal 39*, Hathwala 30; Dayal 2/21)
• Punjab: 159/7 (Gurkeerat 42, Gurinder 34*; Vijayran (3/32); Delhi: 162/4 in 19.3 overs (Sehwag 39, Rana 35; Sran 2/30)