Himachal stun Delhi by 19 runs in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20

New Delhi, Mar 26:
Himachal Pradesh pacers rose to the occasion to hand Delhi their first loss in three matches with a 19-run win in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy at the Feroz Shah Kotla, here today.
Defending their 153 all out in 19.5 overs, Himachal medium-pacers Pankaj Jaiswal (4-22), Rishi Dhawan (2-19) and Akshay Chauhan (2-23) shared eight wickets between them to stop the Gautam Gambhir-led side to 134 for nine.
Delhi, though, certainly missed the services of their leading run-scorer (124 runs) so far, Virender Sehwag, who reportedly sat out due to shoulder pain.
Milind Kumar (52) and Nitish Rana (32) shared a 48-run third wicket stand to give Delhi hope but the rest of the batting fell like a pack of cards.
Earlier, electing to bat in the final match of the day at the venue, the Bipul Sharma-led Himachal rode a concerted effort from the batting line-up to post a challenging score.
Paras Dogra top-scored with 34 runs as opener Raghav Dhawan also chipped in with a calculated 33.
Delhi left-arm spinner Manan Sharma bagged three wickets.
In other North Zone matches, Services handed Haryana their third straight loss in the tournament with 15-run win, while Punjab thrashed Jammu & Kashmir by 94 runs.
Services, who won their second match on the trot after the opening loss, rode on skipper Pratik Desai’s 43 and Yashpal Singh’s 41 to post 141 for six.
But it was Deepak Punia’s six-wicket haul that did the trick for his side as the Rahul Dewan-led Haryana stumbled to 126 for eight.
In the second match of the day, Punjab, who came back after the Delhi loss to register their second win in three games, rode on Manan Vohra’s 55-ball 77 to post 176 for eight in 20 overs.
Medium-pacer Siddharth Kaul then bagged three wickets to skittle out the Parvez Rasool J&K for 82 in 18.2 overs.
Brief Scores:
Match 1 – Himachal Pradesh 153 all out in 19.5 overs (Paras Dogra 34, Raghav Dhawan 33; Manan Sharma 3-19) beat Delhi 134/9 in 20 overs (Milind Kumar 52, Nitish Rana 32; Pankaj Jaiswal 4-22, Rishi Dhawan 2-19, Akshay Chauhan 2-23).
Match 2 – Services 141/6 in 20 overs (Pratik Desai 43, Yashpal Singh 41; Kuldeep Hooda 2-29) beat Haryana 126/8 in 20 overs (Himanshu Rana 43, Sachin Rana 23; Deepak Punia 6-14)
Match 3 – Punjab 176/8 in 20 overs (Manan Vohra 77, Jaskaranveer Singh 29, Gurkeerat Singh 26; Waseem Raza 3-38, Ram Dayal 2-35, Jehangir Lone 2-14) beat J&K 82 all out in 18.2 overs (Parvez Rasool 26, Ram Dayal 15 not out; Siddharth Kaul 3-14). PTI

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