Inter-zonal T20 round-up, Day 2: Gambhir, Dhawan flop as fringe players shine

Big names couldn’t get going on the second day of the Inter-zonal T20 championship, with the likes of Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan failing to return with big scores. It was the day for little-known, as well as fringe players, to strike forms, as was seen in Shreyas Iyer and Mayank Agarwal’s knocks were top scores for their respective sides. While Ajinkya Rahane couldn’t convert his start into a big score, Cheteshwar Pujara managed just five runs, after having scored 86 and 116* for the Rest of the India just ten days back.

Delhi: 103-9 (20), Punjab: 106-8 (19.2)

Punjab won by 2 wicketsTeam India discards Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan flopped, so did former U-19 World Cup winner Unmukt Chand, as Delhi crumbled big time against Punjab, managing just 103 from 20 overs. Manpreet Singh Grewal picked up three wickets, while Harbhajan Singh bowled a tight spell, picking a wicket and giving away only 14 runs.

Punjab’s reply didn’t go as expected, for three top Punjab batsmen fell for nought. Was it not for Anmolpreet Singh and Sharad Lumba’s crucial stand in the middle, they wouldn’t have managed to just sneak past the line. Navdeep Sahni picked up four wickets.

Rajasthan: 142-5, Madhya Pradesh: 159-7

Madhya Pradesh won by 17 runs.

Madhya Pradesh, on the back of a 25-ball 45 from Venkatesh Iyer, scored a healthy 159, enough to edge past Rajasthan, who could manage just 142. Saransh Jain was the most successful bowler, picking up two wickets.

For Rajasthan, T Dhillon picked up four wickets for just 25 runs, while CP Singh took two wickets. Eventually, MP’s challenging total of 159 proved to be 15 runs too much for Rajasthan.

Karnataka: 192-7, Kerala: 173-6

Karnataka won by 19 runs.

Mayank Agarwal and Gowtham K’s half-centuries helped Karnataka reach a mammoth target of 192, despite the lower order crumbling in the final overs. Except for Warrier, all the bowlers had a poor day in the field, although all-rounder Jalaj Saxena managed to pick up three wickets despite giving 30 runs in three overs.

In reply, opener Vishnu Vinod scored a whirlwind 64, and was well-supported by Rohan Prem, but couldn’t help Kerala usurp the target. They eventually fell short by 20 runs.

Hyderabad: 165-5 (20), Tamil Nadu: 93 (19.1)

Hyderabad won by 72 runs

Tanmay Agarwal, having being given a reprieve after an umpiring blunder at 15, went on to scored 85, steering Hyderabad to a match-winning 165-5 against Tamil Nadu, who crumbled cluelessly to 93, with no one managing a big score. Subramaniam Badrinath scored a sedate 26-ball 34 to give Tanmay Agarwal company.

C Milind picked up four wickets in 3.1 overs, well supported by the rest of the bowlers. Dinesh Karthik fell for five, while Abhinav Mukund scored 3 runs off six balls.

Gujarat: 131-9 (20), Mumbai: 133-5 (18.2)

Mumbai won by 7 wickets

Apart from R Bhatt and J Karia’s knocks, the Gujarat batsmen couldn’t get going at all, scoring a below part total of 131 against Mumbai.

Pravin Tambe, who represented Gujarat Lions in the IPL last year, picked up two wickets for 19 runs in his four overs. Shreyas Iyer scored an unbeaten 49-ball 79, steering his side to victory with 10 balls to spare. However, apart from Ajinkya Rahane’s 25, the Mumbai batsmen couldn’t support Iyer much, but still managed to be on the winning side.

Other scores:

Haryana: 133 (20), Himachal Pradesh: 134-5 (20)Himachal won by five wickets

Goa: 145-4 (20), Andhra: 148-4 (18.5)Andhra won by six wickets

Services: 145 (19.4), J&K: 140 (19.5)Services won by five runs

Maharashtra: 165-9 (20), Saurashtra 150-9 (20)

Maharashtra won by 15 runs