New Delhi: Skipper Harbhajan Singh bowled a deadly spell to record figures of 3/8 in 4 overs as Punjab thrashed Jammu and Kashmir by 8 wickets in a one-sided group B of Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, on Sunday.
atting first, Jammu and Kashmir were all out for a paltry 105 in 19.3 overs with Bandeep Singh being the top-scorer with contribution of 40. In reply, Punjab scored the runs in 14.3 overs with Mandeep Singh scoring unbeaten 58 off 45 balls. Opener Pargat Singh scored 44 and added 97 for second wicket with Mandeep.
Leading from the front, Harbhajan brought himself as the second change, got the two most important players in the rival team in skipper Mithun Manhas (6) and Parveez Rasool (2).
He got Rasool with a flighted delivery as the batsman was beaten and Gitansh Khera effected a stumping. He also removed Zahoor Sofi (1) as J&K’s middle-order crumbled as they werre reduced to 79/6 from a relatively safer 69/3.
The win was also Punjab’s first in the tournament having lost the opening encounter to Rajasthan yesterday. The other India player in the team Yuvraj Singh did not get much chance as his solitary over cost him nine runs and he did not get a chance to bat.
In Vadodara, youngster Nitish Rana played a brillant counter-attacking innings of 97 from 40 balls as Delhi cantered home by 111 runs against Andhra in a group C match.
Left-hander Rana, known to be one of the hardest hitters in the Delhi circuit, certainly would have attracted the attention of a few franchises after smashing 34 off 15 balls against Railways on Saturday.
Having chased a massive target of 211 yesterday against Railways, it was Delhi’s turn to put an imposing total on the board as they plundered 236 for 9 in 20 overs. In reply, Andhra were bowled out for 125 in 19.2 overs.
Delhi, were, however, down in the dumps at 40 for four with skipper Gautam Gambhir (18) and Unmukt Chand (0) back in the pavilion. Rana then launched a brutal counter assault with eight fours and eight sixes as he got 80 runs in boundaries. He got able support from the dependable Milind Kumar whose 58 came off only 28 balls with six boundaries and three sixes.
Together, the duo added a whopping 119 runs in 9.1 overs for the fifth wicket. But it was the next partnership for the sixth wicket that was even more exhilarating as Rana and Pawan Negi (22 no in 14 balls) added 51 runs in only 2.4 overs before the 22-year-old was bowled trying to hoist left-arm spinner B Sudhakar out of the ground.
The chase was out of question for minnows Andhra and they were kept under relentless pressure by the Delhi bowlers. Ashish Nehra only bowled two overs giving away 13 runs and got a wicket in the bargain.
