Delhi, Rajasthan reach Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy final

Kolkata, Jan 25 (CRICKETNMORE):  Delhi beat Uttar Pradesh in Group B while in Group A Rajasthan lost to Punjab but reached the final by virtue of a better net run rate in two virtual semi-final matches of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament here on Thursday.

Delhi and Rajasthan will now meet at the Eden Gardens under lights for the summit clash here on Friday.

At the Eden, Punjab had to restrict Rajasthan to 106 or below after posting 129/9 batting first, but eventually beat them by five runs. Rajasthan managed 124/8 as both teams finished on 12 points.

Meanwhile Delhi (12 points) became the first side to advance to the final, winning a thrilling three-run contest against Uttar Pradesh (8 points) at the Jadavpur University campus ground.

A whirlwind half-century by Rishabh Pant (34-ball 58; 4x5, 3x6) followed by an all-round effort from the bowlers helped the Pradeep Sangwan-led Delhi seal the top spot in the Group B standings.

Put in to bat, veteran opener Gautam Gambhir (1) failed once again as Pant continued his rich vein of form to bring up his fifth half century of the competition.
But Pant, who innings was studded with five fours and three sixes, soon ran out of partners at the top with Dhruv Shorey (12), Unmukt Chand (0), and Nitish Rana (0)all departing in quick succession as Delhi were reduced to 67/4 in eight overs.

Towards the end, Milind Kumar struck four boundaries in his 28-ball 32 while Sangwan smashed a four and a six lower down the order to guide Delhi to the 140 mark.

In reply, Suresh Raina (16) -- coming into the tie with three 50-plus scores -- could not maintain his good form, getting out to Suboth Bhati cheaply as UP could not tackle the Delhi bowlers' combined effort.

A spirited 18-ball 33 by Saurabh Kumar took the match to the final over before he was run out with four balls remaining. 

With 13 needed for a win in the final over, Saurabh hit a six off the first ball to bring down the equation to 7 from 5 before getting out.

For Delhi, Pawan Negi and Bhati grabbed two wickets while Sangwan, Kulwant Khejroliya and Lalit Yadav bagged one each.

At the Eden, electing to field first, the tournament's highest wicket taker Deepak Chahar (2/9) continued his fiery form removing Punjab openers Manan Vohra (20) and Mandeep Singh (1) in his first two overs before pulling his hamstring in the final ball of his second over.

Mandeep was the first one to go, Chahar getting him lbw before Vohra, after smashing 15 off the first over off Aniket Choudhary (1/34), wasted his brisk start by going down the crease and trying to play a rash drive, getting caught behind to wicketkeeper Chetan Bist in the process.

The big-hitting Gurkeerat Mann (1) followed suit in the next over while veteran southpaw Yuvraj Singh's (4) poor run with the willow continued.

Tottering at 44/4, skipper Harbhajan Singh (32 off 31) and Sharad Lumba tried to stem the rot with a 24-run stand for the fifth wicket before the off-spin great departed. 

Lumba (31) and Abhishek Gupta (12) then added another 34 runs to the total before being separated even as Manpreet Singh Grewal (8), Siddharth Kaul (0) failed to disturb the scorers. Towards the end, pacer Barinder Sran hit an unbeaten nine-ball 13 to take the score to 129/9. 

In reply, the Rajasthan batsmen faltered with only Ankit Lamba (47) getting runs. Sran (3/22) was Punjab's best bowler and was complemented well by Manpreet Singh (2/20).

As the target was low, the match went down to the wire with 12 needed off the last over but Chahar (15) -- playing despite the injury -- tried hard to put up a fight along with Choudhary (4 not out).

Brief Scores: Delhi 140/9 (Rishabh Pant 58, Milind Kumar 32; Mohd Israr 2/12, Mohsin Khan 2/29) beat Uttar Pradesh 137 (Rinku Singh 34, Saurabh Kumar 33; Pawan Negi 2/13, Suboth Bhati 2/28).

Punjab 129/9 (Harbhajan Singh 32, Sharad Lumba 31; Khaleel Ahmed 3/17, Deepak Chahar 2/9) beat Rajasthan 124/8 (Ankit Lamba 47, Mahipal Lomror 21; Barinder Sran 3/22, Manpreet Singh 2/20).