Rahul Tewatia (31 n.o., 16b, 3x4, 2x6), one of the stars of the Indian Premier League’s 2020 edition, and Rohit Sharma (48 n.o., 21b, 2x4, 3x6), a namesake of the India opener, combined with the willow to help Haryana maintain its winning streak in the Group E of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy tournament.
Riding on the duo’s unbroken 78-run partnership for the sixth wicket in just 34 balls, Haryana made a meat of a target of 183 set by Delhi at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday night.
The five-wicket win, with 10 balls in hand, for Haryana means Mohit Sharma’s men have put one foot in the quarterfinals. Shikhar Dhawan-led Delhi, on the other hand, will have to return home after the concluding group fixtures on Tuesday.
HIGHLIGHTS |
When offie Lalit Yadav struck thrice in nine balls in the middle overs, leaving Haryana reeling at 105 for five, Delhi would have hoped to keep its campaign alive. However, Sharma and Tewatia played smart cricket to stretch the game till the end.
With 26 required from three overs, the duo decided to not wait till the very end. The duo targetted Pradeep Sangwan’s left-arm pace, fetching three sixes with pull shots. The first one - by left-handed Tewatia - was misjudged by Yadav who had an outside chance of pulling off a difficult catch. Rohit then took over and virtually sealed the game with successive sixes behind the wicket off the last two balls of the over.
POINTS TABLE: SMAT 2021 -
The duo’s pyrotechnics meant Nitish Rana’s (66, 34b, 11x4, 2x6) sensational knock in the first innings went in vain. Not only did Rana resurrect Delhi with captain Dhawan being cleaned up by his counterpart Mohit in the first over but Rana stitched together a 103-run partnership with opener Hiten Dalal (49, 41b, 3x4, 3x6) to lay the foundation for the big-hitters.
Anuj Rawat and Lalit Yadav did just that as Delhi added almost 60 runs in the last six overs. In the end, it wasn’t enough.
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