Rana shines as Delhi defeat Kerala
BRIEF SCORES
MULAPADU(ANDHRAPRADESH):NITISH Rana’s unbeaten 51 guided Delhi to a seven-wicket win over Kerala in a Group A game of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament.
Kerala chose to bat and posted 139/7 in 20 overs. Skipper Ishant Sharma struck the first blow for Delhi, having KB Arun Karthick (0) caught and bowled. A fifth-wicket partnership of 60 runs between captain Sachin Baby (37) and Vinoop Sheela Manoharan (38) sparked a revival but Kerala lost its way. Hiten Kerala 139/7 in 20 overs (VS Manoharan 38) lost to Delhi 140/3 in 18.3 overs (N Rana 51*) by seven wickets.
Uttar Pradesh 179/4 in 20 overs
Dalal (28) and Unmukt Chand (33) gave Delhi a strong start before the former was bowled by Basil Thampi. Dhruv Shorey (4) didn’t last long, falling soon but Chand and Rana (52) were involved in a solid partnership, taking the match away from Kerala.
SHAW FLOURISHES
INDORE: Prithvi Shaw found his mojo back as Mumbai cantered to a fourth straight win, hammering Goa by six wickets in a Group C game. Mumbai rode on Shaw’s blazing 71 off just 47 balls to reach target of 140 with 10 balls to spare.
RAINA’S RECORD
NEW DELHI: Suresh Raina scored just 12 runs against Puducherry but they were enough for him to become the first Indian to score 8,000 runs in T20s. The Uttar Pradesh batsman now has 8,001 runs in 300 T20s at an average of 33.47 and is behind Chris Gayle (12,298), Brendon Mccullum (9,922), Kieron Pollard (8,838), Shoaib Malik (8,603) and David Warner (8,111).
Meanwhile, captain Priyam Garg smashed 54 to guide Uttar Pradesh to a seven wicket win over Puducherry in a Group E match .
LIVES UP TO HYPE
On the eve of the match, skipper Mithali had praised Shikha, who had taken two wickets in the first game after going through a lean patch in New Zealand. The 29-year-old on Monday did everything to live up to her captain’s expectations, returning careerbest figures of 4/18 from 10 overs.
Shikha and the experienced Goswami, who scalped 4/30 and was later adjudged player of the match, swung the ball in apart from hitting some awkward lengths during their opening spells to make life difficult for England. Pandey struck first in the second over, deceiving Amy Jones into flicking one straight to Bisht at square leg.
Jhulan followed up by dismissing Sarah Taylor who dragged an incoming delivery onto her stumps. Goswami got her second wicket in the form of England skipper Heather Knight who spooned an easy catch to Rodrigues at cover.
England were tottering at 14/3 at this stage, and though opener Tammy Beaumont looked settled at the other end, she too perished soon, getting caught by Poonam off Pandey to make it 44/4.
LONE BATTLE
Natalie Sciver propped up England’s innings along with Lauren Winfield, who came into the side in place of Danielle Wyatt. The pair put on 49 runs before Winfield’s slog sweep found Mandhana at deep midwicket off Poonam. Then in what could be termed a déjà vu of Friday’s match where England lost their last seven wickets for a meagre 25 runs, the visitors lost five for 26 to be reduced to 119/9.
Sciver, though, continued to wage a lone battle and brought up her fifty with a perfectly timed sweep through deep midwicket. She continued to prosper and added 42 runs with Alex Hartley, who remained unbeaten on naught off 17 balls. Her knock of 85 from 109 balls accounted for more than half of her side’s total. In the end, though, her efforts didn’t prove enough. The third and final ODI on Thursday.
Brief scores: England 161 in 43.3 overs (N Sciver 85; S Pandey 4/18, J Goswami 4/30) lost to India 162/3 in 41.1 overs (S Mandhana 63, M Raj 47*; A Shurbsole 2/23) by seven wickets.