Delhi suffered a five-wicket defeat at the hands of Services in their final North Zone leg match to slump to their first loss in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy here on Friday.
Opting to bat, Delhi, who had already qualified for the knockout phase of the tournament to be held at Ranchi, could only manage 110 for seven in their 20 overs.
Delhi’s decision to bat first backfired as only three of their batsmen managed double digit scores. Opener Unmukt Chand top-scored with a 51-ball 56, while Manan Sharma and skipper Punit Bisht made 20 and 13 respectively.
For Services, medium pacer Sumit Singh (3/15) picked up three wickets while left-arm spinner Avishek Sinha (2/13) accounted for two Delhi batsmen.
Chasing the paltry total, Services rode on Yashpal Singh’s 46 and useful contributions from Nakul Verma (26) and skipper Rajat Paliwal (23 not out) to overwhelm the target with five balls to spare.
Medium pacer Shelley Shaurya picked up two wickets for Delhi.
Delhi (16 points) qualified for the knockout phase as leaders from the North Zone leg. Apart from Delhi, Punjab also made it to the next round by virtue of a better run rate after finishing tied at 12 points along with Haryana and Services.
Delhi: Unmukt Chand b Sumit Singh 56; Manan Sharma c Narender Kumar b Sakuja 20; Puneet Bisht st Verma b Sinha 13; Pawan Negi b Sumit Singh 7; Sumit Narwal st Verma b Sinha 0; Kshitiz Sharma c Paliwal b Sumit Singh 1; Milind Kumar b Nazar 4; Varun Sood (not out) 1; P Awana (not out) 1. Extras (B-1, LB-4, W-2) 7. Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs) 110.
Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-94, 3-100, 4-100, 5-102, 6-103, 7-109.
Bowling: Shadab Nazar 4-0-24-1, Ritesh Negi 3-0-14-0, Narender Kumar 3-0-19-0, Sumit Singh 3-0-15-3, A Sakuja 4-0-20-1, A Sinha 3-0-13-2.
Services: Anshul Gupta b Awana 0; Nakul Verma st Bisht b Negi 26; Sumit Singh b Tokas 11; Yashpal Singh c Kshitiz Sharma b Shaurya 46; Rajat Paliwal (not out) 23; Soumya Swain c Negi b Shaurya 0; Ritesh Negi (not out) 1. Extras (B-2, LB-2) 4. Total (for 5 wkts, 19.2 overs) 111.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-22, 3-61, 4-100, 5-101.
Bowling: Vikas Tokas 4-0-18-1, Parvinder Awana 2-1-1-1, Sumit Narwal 2-0-20-0, Varun Sood 3-0-23-0, Manan Sharma 4-0-22-0, Pawan Negi 3-0-21-1, Shelley Shaurya 1.2-0-2-2.
Other scores: Himachal Pradesh: 100 all out in 19.5 overs (Rishi Dhawan 31, Ankush Bains 27; Siddarth Kaul 4-14, MS Gony 2-15) lt to Punjab: 101/8 in 9.4 overs (Mayank Sidhana 26; Waqar Ahmed 2-14).
Jammu & Kashmir: 167/9 in 20 overs (Bandeep Singh 52, Syed Sagar 74; Amit Mishra 3-46) lt to Haryana: 168/7 in 20 overs (Joginder Sharma 75 n.o.; Asif Rasool 2-30).
Final standings: Delhi (16 points) 1; Punjab (12 points) 2; Haryana (12 points) 3; Services (12 points) 4; Himachal Pradesh (8 points) 5; Jammu and Kashmir (0). Punjab finished above Haryana on better run rate.
