Pant sizzles as Delhi beat services

New Delhi: Rishab Pant showed his prodigious talent yet again as he struck an aggressive 64, two days after smashing the second fastest hundred, to help Delhi beat Services by 22 runs in their Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy match.

Pant, who had scored a 32-ball hundred against Himachal Pradesh -- the fastest T20 ton by an Indian and second overall -- at the same Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium two days ago, hit 64 off 32 deliveries to held Delhi notched up 225 for 8 after being put into bat.

The 20-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman had 11 fours and one six in his aggressive knock at the top of the Delhi innings.

The home side had some hiccups after the fall of Pant in the eighth over. From 90 for 1, they were reduced to 98 for 3.

But Delhi recovered with some useful contributions from Nitish Rana (30), Dhruv Shorey (25) and captain Pradeep Sangwan (29) to post a big total on the board.

For Services, Nitin Yadav was the most successful bowler with three wickets for 53 runs while Nitin Tanwar took two wickets.

Chasing 226 for a win, Services were reduced to 81 for 5 in the eighth over but some fine batting from opener Ravi Chauhan (53 off 23 balls), Nakul Sharma (53 off 36 balls) and Vikas Hathwala (36) gave them some hope.

But the asking rate kept on rising and ultimately, the visiting side were all out for 203 in 19.1 overs.

For Delhi, it was a combined bowling effort with Kulwant Khejroliya bagging three wickets for 38 runs. Sangwan and Vikas Tokas chipped in with two wickets apiece while Pawan Negi took one.

Brief Scores:

Delhi: 225 for 8 in 20 overs (Rishab Pant 64, Nitish Rana 30; Nitin Yadav 3/53)

Services: 203 all out in 19.1 overs (Ravi Chauhan 53, Nakul Sharma 53, Vikas Hathwala 36; Kulwant Khejroliya 3/38).