Akash Chopra, Dishant Yagnik help Rajasthan beat Railways

JAIPUR: Former India opener Akash Chopra (72 not out) and wicketkeeper batsman Dishant Yagnik (70) hit fine half centuries to propel Rajasthan to a eight-wicket victory over Railways in the inaugural match of the central zone T20 league on Wednesday.
Chasing a stiff victory target of 178, Rajasthan romped home in 19.3 overs losing only two wickets in the process.
Akash Chopra played a sheet anchor role on one end while Dishant played more freely to knock off 70 runs off 44 balls studded with nine fours and three sixes.
Akash played well to remain unbeaten on 72, which included eight boundaries and one six.
The quick wickets of Dishant yagnik (70) and Vaibhav Deshpande (12) pegged back Rajasthan but skipper Vineet Saxena hit two sweetly timed boundaries to reduce the required run-rate to almost run a ball.
Vineet was unbeaten on 11 when Rajasthan reached home in the last over.
Earlier, Railways were off to a good start and Faiz Fazal (21), Sanjay Bangar (41), TP Singh (40) and Dhiren Salvi (33 not out) helped them to a pile up a challenging total of 177 for seven in their allotted 20 over.
Newcomer Raman Chahar was pick of the Rajasthan bowler giving away only 16 runs in his three overs. Pankaj Singh and Vivek Yadav were costly giving away 46 and 43 runs respectively.