Delhi, Haryana register wins

New Delhi, January 12 

Rishabh Pant made short work of a below-par Jammu and Kashmir with a 33-ball- 51 as Delhi won their second Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 match by eight wickets here today. Delhi outclassed their opponents in all departments, never taking foot off the pedal as they chased down the paltry target of 101 in 11.3 overs. 

Pant smashed a couple of straight sixes, including one off off-spinner Parvez Rasool that landed on the top-most tier of the stadium. He also treated the J&K medium-pacers with disdain, hitting seven boundaries. He added 84 runs in nine overs with the controversial Sarthak Ranjan (He's the son of controversial Bihar politician Pappu Yadav), who made 31 off 20 balls. Interestingly, Ranjan was given an opportunity to open against the weakest team in the zonal leg, replacing last match's half-centurion Dhruv Shorey, who reportedly had an ankle injury. He hit three boundaries and two sixes in his knock. 

In the other match of the day, Haryana notched up their first win, beating Punjab by five wickets. Batting first, Punjab scored 134/9 in 20 overs with Mandeep Singh contributing 30 off 18 balls. In reply, Haryana knocked off the target in 17.5 overs despite a tight spell by skipper Harbhajan Singh (2/16). — PTI

Brief scores: J&K 100/9 in 20 overs (Parvez Rasool 37, Pawan Negi 3/27 in 4 overs); Delhi 101/2 in 11.3 overs (Rishabh Pant 51, Sarthak Ranjan 31). 

Punjab 134/9 in 20 overs (Mandeep Singh 30, Amit Mishra 3/23); Haryana 134/5 in 17.5 overs (Harshal Patel 31, Rahul Tweatia 37, Harbhajan Singh 2/16)