Kolkata : Skipper Harbhajan Singh bowled a deadly spell to record figures of 3/8 in 4 overs as Punjab thrashed Jammu and Kashmir by 8 wickets in a one-sided group B of Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, on Sunday.
Batting first, Jammu and Kashmir were all out for a paltry 105 in 19.3 overs with Bandeep Singh being the top-scorer with contribution of 40, while Ian Dev Singh made 39 runs.
In reply, Punjab scored the runs in 14.3 overs with Mandeep Singh scoring unbeaten 58 off 45 balls. Opener Pargat Singh scored 44 and added 97 for second wicket with Mandeep.
Leading from the front, Harbhajan brought himself as the second change, got the two most important players in the rival team in Parvez Rasool (2) and skipper Mithun Manhas (6).
Especially, he got Rasool with a flighted delivery as he was beaten and Gitansh Khera effected a stumping. He also removed Zahoor Sofi (1) as J&K’s middle-order crumbled as they werre reduced to 79/6 from a relatively safer 69/3.
The win was also Punjab’s first in the tournament having lost the opening encounter to Rajasthan yesterday. The other India player in the team Yuvraj Singh did not get much chance as his solitary over cost him 9 runs and he did not get a chance to bat.
Gujarat (174/7) won convincingly over Vidharba(114) by 60 runs. The highest scoring partnership in the match was between PA Patel and MC Juneja which contributed 91 runs to the Gujarat innings thus setting the stage for a healthy score.
Madhya Pradesh (106/3 in 15.5 overs) won by 7 wickets (with 25 balls remaining) against Goa (104/6 in 20 overs). DD Gaonkar(44 for 35 balls) of Goa was the only player who batted well in the entire match. Harpreet Singh (16 off 13 balls) of Madhya Pradesh picked up a couple of wickets and along with VR Iyer( 17 off 21 balls) scored the winning runs for his team.
In a nail biting finish, Karnataka(162 off 20 overs) won by just 1 run against Mumbai (161 off 20 overs). DS Kulkarni and RS Raje were the peak of the bowlers for Karnataka picking up 3 wickets each. The best partnership in the match (64 runs off 7.4 overs) was between Robin Uthappa and Mohammed Taha.
Uttar Pradesh (150/5 off 20 overs) won by 32 runs against Odisha (118/8 off 20 overs). PSK Gupta of Uttar Pradesh batted well for his 53 runs off 40 balls. Amit Mishra and Piyush Chawla of Odisha picked a couple of wickets each.
Hyderabad (140/9 off 20 overs) won by 14 runs against Himachal Pradesh (126/9 off 20 overs) AN Chauhan picked up 4 wickets in his 4 overs and conceded 25 runs.
Jharkhand(150/1 0ff 18.3 overs) won by 9 wickets (with 9 balls remaining) against Tripura (146/7 off 20 overs). The partnership of 103 runs off 13.5 overs by Virat Singh and IR Jaggi propelled Jharkand towards its victory.
Kerala(129/7 off 20 overs) won by 18 runs against Rajasthan(111/8 off 20 overs). NB Singh of Kerala picked 4 wickets and Rajat Bhatia of Rajasthan scored 42 off 35 balls.
Delhi (236/9 off 20 overs) secured a comprehensive victory by 111 runs playing against Andhra Pradesh(125/10 in 19.2 overs). Gautam Gambhir (18 off 12 balls) playing for the Delhi squad failed to impress. CV Stephen of Delhi got a 5 wicket haul. The 5th wicket partnership of 119 runs off 9.1 overs by Milind Kumar and N Rana of Delhi set the stage for the massive score. Ashish Nehra of Andhra picked up a single wicket.
Baroda(142/5 off 20 overs) won by 9 runs against Railways(133/6 off 20 overs). The highest partnership of the match was between HH Pandya and YK Pathan which contributed 76 runs off 67 balls to the Baroda innings for the fourth wicket.
Maharashtra (159/8) won by 9 runs against Services (128/10 off 18.3 overs). NS Naik of Maharashtra batted beautifully for his 69 runs off 46 balls while Nitin Yadav picked up 3 wickets in his 4 overs but conceded 50 runs.