SURAT: The talk ahead of the Delhi-Haryana Syed Mushtaq Ali Super League clash centered around the return of
Rishabh Pant. The wicketkeeper-batsman, who arrived after being released by the Indian team management during the Kolkata Test against Bangladesh, looked a pale shadow of himself on Sunday evening.
Chasing Haryana's stiff target of 182, Delhi needed a blistering start and they banked on Pant to deliver. The 22-year-old, who opened the innings, arrived to a loud cheer from the crowd that gathered at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium. However, they were kept quiet for the majority of Pant's 32-ball 28 as the left-hander failed to time his shots and never stamped his authority over the proceedings. His shots failed to find the gaps and Delhi failed to fire at the start.
Eventually the Dhruv Shorey-led side fell short by 30 runs despite a fighting 25-ball 37 scored by
Nitish Rana.
Pant, on whom Delhi's hopes rested, managed just 3 off the first seven deliveries he faced. His first big shot --- a six over fine-leg fence - arrived in the 4th over at the expense of off-spinner
Jayant Yadav
(0-22). Pant managed only one more boundary during his innings. Haryana skipper
Amit Mishra (0-21) was able to marshal his resources well. The experienced leggie
Yuzvendra Chahal (3-27) and Jayant didn't give much room for Pant to free his arms. More importantly, Haryana was successful in plugging the scoring areas of Pant --- the square region and the fine-leg fence.
Pant survived a close leg-before appeal off Jayant in the 8th over when on 18. With the asking rate climbing all the time, it needed some big shots from the willow of Pant. Despite getting his eye in, Pant could not last long as medium-pacer Sumit Kumar cleaned him up in the 11th over of the chase. Delhi's chase more or less ended with Pant's dismissal.
Earlier in the evening, Haryana benefitted from the 105-run stand for the third wicket between Himanshu Rana (59, 6x4, 2x6) and Shivam Chauhan (47, 5x4, 2x6). The duo resurrected Haryana's innings after they slipped to 9 for 2 in the 2nd over. Before the game against Delhi, both Himanshu and Shivam have had very little to do in this tournament. Rana had managed just 72 runs from 4 matches while Shivam had accrued 131 in 5 outings. That particular partnership helped Haryana to post a formidable score on board which eventually proved to be more than enough.
Summarized scores: Haryana 181-6 in 20 overs (Himanshu Rana 59, Shivam Chauhan 47). Delhi 151-8 in 20 overs (Nitish Rana 37, Rishabh Pant 28). Haryana won by 30 runs; Maharashtra 165-2 in 20 overs (Azim Kazi 48, Kedhar Jadhav 47). Baroda 98 all out in 17.3 overs (Satyajeet 2-5, S Kazi 2-12, A Kazi 2-20). Maharashtra won by 67 runs
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