Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 8: Riding on magnificent 86 runs off 58 balls by Ravi Chauhan, Services thrashed Jammu and Kashmir by 9 wickets in a one-sided contest, while Himachal Pradesh beat Haryana in a thrilling ‘Eliminator’ during a North Zone leg encounter of the National T20 Championship for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at Feroz Shah Kotla ground, New Delhi.
Earlier, in the first match, batting first, Himachal Pradesh scored 194 for 2 riding on opener Prashant Chopra’s 64-ball 99 runs that had 11 boundaries. Veteran Paras Dogra also scored 47 off 32 balls.
In reply, seam bowler Harshal Patel, who was promoted up the order to open the innings smashed 73 off 32 balls with seven fours and five sixes to keep his team in the hunt.
In the last over, Haryana required 10 runs to win the match and three off the last ball. However Jayant Yadav and Amit Mishra could manage only two runs resulting in a tie.
However, HP seamer Pankaj Jaiswal did the star turn as he dismissed two batsmen of successive deliveries with Haryana managing only two runs in the ‘One Over Eliminator’.
Prashant Chopra hit a boundary to finish off the match.
In the second match of the day, Services crushed J&K by 9 wickets in an easy contest.
Winning the toss and batting first, J&K scored a modest 128 runs in the stipulated 20 overs. Wicket-keeper batsman, Ian Dev Singh Chauhan top scored with 47 runs, while skipper Parvez Rasool and opener Ahmed Banday contributed 20 runs each. For Services, Diwesh Pathania took 3 wickets.
In reply, Services sailed on a brilliant innings of unbeaten 86 runs by Ravi Chauhan to chase the target in 16.5 overs, losing 1 wicket in the process, thus won the match by 9 wickets. Manzoor Dar took the lone wicket to fall.
Follow our WhatsApp channel