Dhawan fails again but Delhi beat Jharkhand by 9 runs in Mushtaq Ali T20

Shikhar Dhawan failed yet again but Nitish Rana and Himmat Singh slammed half-centuries to help Delhi beat Jharkhand by nine runs in a Group E match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament here on Friday.

Sent into bat, Delhi rode on Rana (66 off 42 balls) and Himmat's (51 not out off 22 balls) innings to post a challenging 176 for five and then restricted Jharkhand to 167 for six to pocket the vital win.

India opener Dhawan once again flopped, making just nine runs before being dismissed LBW by Utkarsh Singh. The left-hander was out for a duck against Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.

Besides Rana and Himmat, opener Hiten Dalal made a run-a-ball 38.

For Jharkhand off-spinner Utkarsh (2/24) scalped two wickets.

Chasing the target, Jharkhand had a bad start as they lost skipper Ishan Kishan (6) and Anand Singh (13) early.

Virat Singh (32), Saurabh Tiwary (24) and Kumar Deobrat (33) kept Jharkhand in the hunt.

Towards the end Utkarsh (49 not out off 25 balls) used his long handle to good effect but it was not enough to take Jharkhand home.

Medium pacers Simarjeet Singh (3/21) and Pranshu Vijayran (2/22) were the key wicket takers for Delhi.

The win helped Delhi move to the fourth spot in Group E with 16 points from six games, while Jharkhand is atop the standings with 18 points from as many matches.

Meanwhile in other matches of Group E, Jammu and Kashmir beat Nagaland by eight wickets, while Gujarat and Saurashtra defeated Odisha and Sikkim by six wickets each respectively.