Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2018: Delhi squeeze through to final; Rajasthan progress despite loss

Delhi scraped through Uttar Pradesh for a 3-run win to move into the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Both teams were locked on eight points with Uttar Pradesh having a better net run rate as they headed into their final Super League match. Suresh Raina invited Delhi to bat at Kolkata and pacer Amit Mishra got Gautam Gambhir in the first over; in-form Rishabh Pant added 38 with Dhruv Shorey before the latter also fell for 12.

Mohammad Israr then got rid of the next two batsmen to leave Pant alone in setting up a good total for Delhi. The wicketkeeper-batsman hit 58 off 34 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes but departed in the twelfth over after being run out by Rinku Singh. The only other contribution came from Milind Kumar, who got 32 at number six. Almost all of Uttar Pradesh's bowlers were economical with Israr claiming 2/12 and Mohsin Khan 2/29 as Delhi got 140/9.

The chase saw a quiet start with Kulwant Khejroliya accounting for Shivam Chaudhary early. Raina and opener Umang Sharma got Uttar Pradesh back on track, but after Subodh Bhati got Raina for 16, another wicket followed. Rinku and Sarfaraz Khan put on 41 for the fifth wicket, but yet again, a cluster of wickets brought Delhi back into the contest. Off-spinner Pawan Negi dismissed them both, a run out sent back Mishra and captain Pradeep Sangwan got Israr to leave Uttar Pradesh at 102/8 with 39 to get in four overs.

Saurabh Kumar struck a quick 33 from 18 balls with two fours and sixes each before being run out himself; that left his side with 6 to get from 4 with a solitary wicket in hand. But with a four required off the last ball, Mohsin was also run out with Uttar Pradesh folding up for 137.

In another match, despite beating Rajasthan by 5 runs, Punjab could finish only second as Rajasthan progressed to the final on account of having a better net run rate. Punjab managed 129/9 with 32 from captain Harbhajan Singh as young Khaleel Ahmed bagged 3/17; for Rajasthan, only Ankit Lamba got a good score of 47 with too many starts across the batting order being wasted to get to only 124/8 with Barinder Sran getting 3/22.

Brief Scores:

Group A

Punjab 129/9 in 20 overs (Harbhajan 32; Ahmed 3/17, Chahar 2/9) beat Rajasthan 124/8 in 20 overs (Lamba 47; Sran 3/22, Gony 2/20) by 5 runs

Group B

Delhi 140/9 in 20 overs (Pant 58, Milind 32; Israr 2/12) beat Uttar Pradesh 137 in 20 overs (Rinku 34, Saurabh 33; Negi 2/13) by 3 runs