Rishabh Pant stars as Delhi reach super league

NEW DELHI: Two days after scoring a record 32-ball 100, Rishabh Pant continued his good form, striking a 22-ball half-century against Services in the last match of the zonal stage of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament here at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Tuesday. Pant scored a 32-ball 64 which helped Delhi win by 25 runs.
These two knocks by Pant have come at a time questions were being raised over his consistency.His exploits in the zonal stage of the tournament ensured Delhi topped
the group and advanced to the super league stage, scheduled to be held in Kolkata from January 21.
The home side suffered some hiccups after the fall of Pant in the eighth over. From 90 for 1, they were reduced to 98 for 3. But they recovered with some useful contributions from Nitish Rana (30), Dhruv Shorey (25) and captain Pradeep Sangwan (29) to post a big total on theboard.
Chasing 226 for a win, Services were reduced to 81 for 5 in the eighth over but some fine batting by opener Ravi Chauhan (53 off 23 balls), Nakul Sharma (53 off 36 balls) and Vikas Hathwala (36) gave them hope.
Brief scores: Delhi 225/8 (Rishabh Pant 64, Nitish Rana 30; Nitin Yadav 3/53) bt Services 203 in 19.1overs (Ravi Chauhan 53, Nakul Sharma 53, Vikas Hathwala 36; Kulwant Khejroliya 3/38)
All-round Tiwary helps Bengal move up
RANCHI: Skipper Manoj Tiwary produced an all-round performance as Bengal defeated Assam by six wickets to continue their unbeaten run in the East Zone league and seal their place in the Super League stage of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20, here.
Bengal has been impressive in the tournament so far as they registered their fourth consecutive victory in the East Zone league on Tuesday. Tiwary first scalped four for 23 with his part-time leg- breaks and then went on to score an unbeaten 63 off 53 balls to ensure the comfortable win for hisside.
Opting to field, Bengal first restricted Assam to modest143 for nine and then chased down the target with 17 balls spare.
UP and Rajasthan qualify for knockouts
RAIPUR: Uttar Pradesh defeated Chhattisgarh by six wickets in a must-win Central Zone league match to qualify for the Super League stage of the Syed Mushtaq AliT20, here. Their place in the knock-out stage already assured, Rajasthan, however, lost by four wickets to Railways in another Central Zone match. Both Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, however, qualified for the knockouts by finishing first and second respectively.