Pant ton helps Delhi crush Himachal in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tourney

Opener Rishabh Pant slammed 116 as Delhi outplayed Himachal Pradesh by 10 wickets in a North Zone match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament here on Sunday.

Chasing 145, Pant started assaulting the Himachal bowlers right from the start. He reached the 50-run mark in just 18 balls and then completed his ton in another 14 balls to become the second batsmen to score the fastest ton in the shortest format of the game. West Indian batsmen Chris Gayle was the fastest.

In his 38 ball innings, Pant slammed eight boundaries and 12 sixes. This is also the fastest century in T20 cricket by an Indian batsman.

Gautam Gambhir, at the other end remained unbeaten at 30.

Earlier, Put in to bat, Himachal Pradesh scored 144/8 with Nikhil Gangta (40) scoring majorly.

For Delhi, skipper Pradeep Sangwan scalped two wickets.

In other North Zone match, Jammu and Kashmir defeated Punjab by 23 runs.

Chasing 164/3, Punjab were bundled out for 141. Waseem Raza took four wickets for Jammu and Kashmir while Umar Nazir Mir sclaped two wickets.

In South Zone match, Karnataka defeated Kerala by 20 runs.

Mayank Agarwal (86) helped Karnataka score 181/6. Apart from him Ravikumar Samarth (27) also played a crucial knock in the middle-order.

Chasing 182, Kerala were bowled out for 161. Skipper Sanju Samson (71) and Vishnu Vinod (46) were the only successful batsman.

In another match, Tamil Nadu defeated Hyderabad by 16 runs.

In East Zone match between Assam and Jharkhand. Jharkhand won by eight wickets.

Chasing 148/6 set by Assam, Jharkhand batsmen applied themselves and overhauled the target in the 16th over. Ishank Jaggi (68) was the most successful batsmen.

In the second East Zone match, Bengal defeated Tripura by 9 wickets.

--IANS

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