Mumbai rode on Abhishek Nayar's scintillating 47-ball 76 to record a comfortable five-wicket win over Saurashtra in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 tournament for west zone, in Vadodara, on Wednesday.
Batting first after winning the toss, Saurashtra posted a competitive 175 for six in the stipulated 20 overs, but that did not prove to be enough as Mumbai chased down the target with two balls to spare at the Moti Bagh Stadium.
Shashank Singh was the second-best scorer for Mumbai, as he smashed 47 off a mere 22 balls with the help of four boundaries and three sixes.
During his knock, the experienced Nayar found the fence seven times and cleared it thrice.
The duo was involved in a 102-run stand for the sixth wicket after Mumbai were struggling at 74 for five in the 13th over.
Earlier, opener Cheteshwar Pujara top-scored for Saurashtra with 47 off 42 deliveries, while Rajdeep Darbar and Sheldon Jackson contributed 37 and 30 respectively. Down the order, Chirag Jani blazed away to 32 off just 10 ball with the help of two fours and three sixes.
In the other west zone match of the day, Baroda beat Gujarat by 15 runs in a high-scoring game in which Deepak Hooda scored a century for the winning team.
Gambhir's 61 helps Delhi beat Haryana by 5 wkts
India discard Gautam Gambhir led from the front with a 44-ball 61 as Delhi beat Haryana by five wickets in a North Zone leg match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali
Trophy T20 tournament in Dharamsala.
Opener and captain Gambhir scored the bulk of the Delhi runs in their chase of 115, striking 11 fours in his knock before falling with the side just nine runs away from victory.
Gambhir was the fifth and last Delhi batsman to fall as his side overhauled the target with one over to spare at the HPCA Stadium.
Nitish Rana contributed a 23-ball 21 while Pawan Negi and Pradeep Sangwan remained not out on 8 and 2 respectively.
Shikhar Dhawan made 3 while wicketkeeper-batsman Unmukt Chand was out for a duck.
Earlier, Haryana had a modest performance with the bat as they put on 114 for 7. While their batsmen got starts, no one could carry on and score a half-century.
Pradeep Sangwan was the best bowler for Delhi with 2 for 21, while the rest of the attack took at least one wicket each.
Brief Scores:
Delhi 115/5 in 19 overs (Gautam Gambhir 61; Joginder Sharma 2/15) beat Haryana 114/7 in 20 overs (Shivam Chauhan 21; Pradeep Sangwan 2/21).
Jammu & Kashmir 123 in 20 overs (Manzoor Dar 34; Akshay Chauhan 3/22) beat Himachal Pradesh 105/9 in 20 overs (Paras Dogra 25; Umar Nazir 2/12) by 18 runs.
Punjab 129/9 in 20 overs (Manpreet Gony 27; Diwesh Pathania 3/22) beat Services 123/8 in 20 overs (Nakul Verma 57; Manpreet Gony 2/13) by 6 runs.
Saha, Goswami star in Bengal's thrashing of Assam
Openers Wriddhiman Saha and Shreevats Goswami remained unbeaten on 74 and 71 respectively as Bengal thrashed Assam by 10 wickets in an east Zone leg match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy T20 cricket tournament in Kolkata.
Saha and Goswami put on an unbroken 150 for the opening wicket to score an easy win for Bengal with four overs to spare at the Eden Gardens.
Earlier, electing to bat, Assam put on 146 for 9.
Assam captain Arun Karthik scored a career-best 76 off 47 balls. The rest of Assam's line-up could not get going, the next best score by Swarupam Purkayastha's 15 off 20 balls, restricted in particular by medium-pacer Sayan Ghosh who took 3 for 30.
In another match, Jharkhand slumped to their third straight defeat as they lost to Tripura by 24 runs at the Eden Gardens.
Brief Scores:
Bengal 150 for no loss in 16 overs (Wriddhiman Saha 74 not out, Shreevats Goswami 71 not out) beat Assam 146/9 in 20 overs (Arun Karthik 76; Sayan Ghosh 3/30) by 10 wickets.
Tripura 192 all out in 19.5 overs (Udiyan Bose 74; Pratyush Singh 2/1) beat Jharkhand 168/6 in 20 overs (Shasheem Rathour 70; Joydeep Bhattacharjee 2/40) by 24 runs.
