Delhi started their campaign at Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with a thumping 76-run win over domestic heavyweights Mumbai in an Elite Group ‘E’ game at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday.
Put in to bat, Delhi rode on a blazing 74 off 37 balls by two-down Nitish Rana to post a mammoth 206 for 4 and then bundled out Mumbai for a meagre 130, with left-arm pacer Pradeep Sangwan (3/20) leading from the front.
Delhi openers Shikhar Dhawan (23) and Hiten Dalal (24) started in an aggressive manner putting 38 in 4 overs. However, Dhawan could not convert his start, and Delhi were 56/2 at one stage. One-down Himmat Singh (53 off 32 balls) and Rana took the Mumbai attack to cleaners and added 122 for the third wicket.
The left-handed Rana hammered seven fours and five sixes, while Singh struck three boundaries and four maximums as Mumbai bowlers were made to toil hard. Mumbai never got going in the chase as they lost half their side for 52. Mumbai batters Yashasvi Jaiswal (0), Aditya Tare (3), Suryakumar Yadav (7), Siddhesh Lad (4) and Sarfaraz Khan (15) fell cheaply.
All-rounder and India player Shivam Dube hit a whirlwind 42-ball 63, with three fours and five sixes, but that was too little and too late. India speedster Ishant Sharma, who
returned to competitive cricket after sustaining a side strain during IPL, ended with figures of 2/16.
Brief Scores (Round I)
Group D: Services 163/4 in 20 overs (RahulSingh 76 no) lost to Saurashtra 166/7 in 19.1 overs (Chirag Jani 34 no; Varun Choudhary 3/39)
Vidarbha 104 in 19.3 overs (DL Chahar 3/10, RD Chahar 3/27) lost to Rajasthan 106/7 in 14.3 overs (AR Gupta 41 no; DG Nalkande 4/20, AA Wakhare 3/33)
Group E Andhra Pradesh 107/6 (Ricky Bhui 39; Jayant Yadav 2/13; Yuzvendra Chahal 2/21) lost to Haryana 108/4 (C K Bishnoi 42 no)
Delhi 206/4 (Nitish Rana 74, Himmat Singh 53; Shams Mulani 2/43) bt Mumbai 130 (Shivam Dube 63; Pradeep Sangwan 3/20, Ishant Sharma 2/16)
Plate: Chandigarh vs Nagaland match abandoned
Meghalaya 62 in 13 overs (Rex 2/7, Bishworjit 2/7, Kishan 2/22) lost to Manipur 66/4 in 12.1 overs
Bihar 122 in 20 overs (Manav Patil 4/20) bt Arunachal Pradesh 104/9 in 20 overs (Ashutosh Aman 3/17)
Mizoram 47/3 in 5 overs lost to Sikkim 50/0 in 3.4 overs
Today’s matches
Group A: Punjab vs Karnataka; J & K vs Tripura; Railways vs Uttar Pradesh
Group B: Jharkhand vs Bengal; Hyderabad vs Odisha; Assam vs Tamil Nadu
Group C: Gujarat vs Uttarakhand; Baroda vs Himachal
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