Virender Sehwag’s entertaining 39 and Vaibhav Rawal’s whirlwind 31 helped Delhi outplay Punjab by six wickets to register their second consecutive win in the North Zone leg of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy on Wednesday.
Chasing 160 for a win at the Feroz Shah Kotla, the Delhi batsmen put up a concerted effort to achieve the target with three balls to spare.
Sehwag was the top-scorer with his 35-ball knock, including 3 fours and 3 sixes, but was finally done in by opposition skipper Harbhajan Singh (1-25).
Opener Unmukt Chand contributed with a 17-ball 20 as captain Gautam Gambhir (4) once again failed to get going.
Sehwag and Nitish Rana (35) then stitched a 42-run third wicket partnership to get behind the chase.
But after the two batsmen departed, Delhi were in some trouble before an unbeaten 48-run fifth wicket stand between Milind Kumar (21 not out) and Rawal (31 not out, 13 balls, 2x4s, 2x6s) gave the team another four points.
Punjab pace spearhead Brainder Sran, who accounted for Chand and Gambhir, bagged two wickets but could not help Punjab continue their winning run after they had beaten Haryana in their first game.
Earlier, Punjab rode on Gurkeerat Singh’s 35-ball 42 and Gurinder Singh’s unbeaten 34 to post 159 for seven.
Yuvraj Singh also contributed with 25 runs before falling to medium-pacer Pranshu Vijayran, who bagged three wickets.
New-ball bowler Vikas Tokas and left-arm spinner Manan Sharma bagged two wickets each.
Brief Scores:
Match 1 — Punjab 159/7 in 20 overs (Gurkeerat Singh 42, Gurinder Singh 34 not out; Pranshu Vijayran (3—32) lose to Delhi 162/4 in 19.3 overs (Virender Sehwag 39, Nitish Rana 35, Vaibhav Rawal 31 not out; Brainder Sran 2—30).
