BHUBANESWAR: A three-wicket haul and an 18-ball 29 by all-rounder Mandeep Singh piloted Punjab to a six-wicket win over Rajasthan in a crucial Group B Super League match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy All-India T20 tournament at DRIEMS Stadium in Tangi (Cuttack) on Sunday.
With this win, their third in four matches, Punjab finished group toppers with 12 points and set up Tuesday’s title clash with Gujarat, who topped Group A with 16 points, outplaying Andhra by seven wickets for their fourth win in a row here at KIIT Cricket Ground.
Earlier, Mumbai beat Hyderabad by 25 runs at DRIEMS Stadium and Himachal Pradesh prevailed over Madhya Pradesh by eight runs at KIIT Ground in two other matches of the day which were played only for academic interest.
The task for Punjab became easier as Rajasthan, who elected to bat first, were bundled out for 101. Siddharth Kaul and Mandeep Singh engineered the disintegration of the Rajasthan innings, picking up three wickets each. Punjab chased down the target with 20 balls to spare. Mandeep too made a decent contribution with the bat, hitting four fours and one six in his 29.
Brief scores: Rajasthan 101 in 19 ovs (Siddharth Kaul 3-11, Mandeep Singh 2-21, Shubek Gill 2-16) lost to Punjab 102/4 in 16.4 ovs (Pankaj Singh 2-14) by 6 wkts. Mumbai 186/4 in 20 ovs (Shashank Singh 61, Eknath Kerkar 53 no) bt Hyderabad 161/9 in 20 ovs (Hanuma Vihari 81; Prathamesh Dake 3-16, Sidak Singh 3-32) by 25 runs. Himachal Pradesh 145/6 in 20 ovs (Prashant Chopra 59; Jatin Saxena 2-24, Yogesh Rawat 2-38) bt Madhya Pradesh 137 in 19.4 ovs (Parth Sahani 47; Pankaj Jaiswal 4-12, Shresth Nirmohi 3-20) by 8 runs. Andhra 127 in 19.5 ovs (Mohammad Kaif 58; Rush Kalaria 3-17, Rohit Dahiya 3-24, Chintan Gaja 2-15) lost to Gujarat 128/3 in 17.3 ovs (Smit Patel 51; K Sasikanth 2-24) by 7 wkts.