Young Yash Dhull showed his T20 credentials with a smashing 71 not out off 46 balls as Delhi easily chased down a tricky target set by Puducherry with seven wickets to spare in a group B match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Sunday. Puducherry scored 168 for eight in 20 overs with Parameeswaran Sivaraman's 43 off 30 balls being the highest contribution. Veteran Ishant Sharma (1/26 in 4 overs) and the seasoned Navdeep Saini (3/37 in 4 overs) bowled at a brisk pace.
Delhi, who had lost their last game against UP after a batting debacle, chased down the target with four balls to spare.
Young Dhull, who has already scored a half-century in the tournament, was at his flawless best as he hit 10 boundaries during the chase.
Delhi needed 56 off 33 balls when skipper Nitish Rana was dismissed for 36 off 26 balls, but Ayush Badoni (32 not out off 15 balls) came in and started smashing the Puducherry bowlers. Badoni hit three fours and a six while adding exactly 56 runs in 4.5 overs with Dhull to seal the issue.
Earlier, skipper Rana used seven bowlers including himself, but still Puducherry still managed close to 170, largely due to Marimuthu Vikneshwaran's 21-ball 39, which was studded with four fours and three sixes.
Brief Scores Puducherry 168/8 (Parameeswaran Sivaraman 43, Marimuthu Vikneshwaran 39 not out, Ishant Sharma 1/26, Navdeep Saini 3/37).
Delhi 169/3 (Yash Dhull 71 not out, Aysuh Badoni 32 not out, Nitish Rana 36).
Delhi won by 7 wickets.
Tripura 158/8 (Bikramkumar Das 73, Wriddhiman Saha 13, ravi teja 2/27) Hyderabad 162/5 (NT Tilak Verma 67, Mickil Jaiswal 32). Hyderabad won by 5 wickets.
Goa 138/7 (Suyash Prabhudesai 64, Siddarth Kaul 4/28) Punjab 142/1 (Prabhsimran Singh 74, Abhishek Sharma 54 not out) Punjab won by 9 wickets.
Manipur 137/4 (Karnajit Yumnam 64, Kangabam Singh 45, Aqib Khan 2/19).
UP 138/0 (Karan Sharma 79 not out, Aryan Juyal 55 not out).
UP won by 10 wickets. PTI KHS KHS AH AH