Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 c'ship: Hyderabad humble Delhi

Sultanpur (Haryana): Skipper Tanmay Agarwal led from the front with a 34-ball 54 as Hyderabad upstaged Delhi by three wickets in a thrilling last-ball finish to their Elite Group E match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 championship here on Monday.

Opting to field first after winning the toss, Hyderabad's bowlers restricted Delhi to 171 for five in their allotted 20 overs. Chasing a challenging target of 172, Hyderabad completed the task in the last ball of the game, despite India player Hanuma Vihari's failure at the top of the order.

During his stay in the middle, the 26-year Agarwal struck six boundaries and two sixes while stitching 64 runs for the second wicket with Tilak Varma, who contributed 37 off 32 balls. With his off-spin bowling, Lalit Yadav had Agarwal trapped in front of wicket in the 11th over with Hyderabad requiring another 86 run for victory in 55 balls.

Varma was the third batter to get out with the team total reading 113 for three in the 14th over. Hyderabad lost another wicket soon enough as Delhi looked to come back into the game. Rahul Buddhi played a useful knock of 17 in 12 balls, but had it not been for Tanay Thyagarajan's 10-ball 17 and Chama Milind's 14 in eight deliveries, Hyderabad would not have won the match.

The two batters added 33 runs for an unbroken eighth-wicket stand, hitting a few sixes and a four when their team needed them the most. Left-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan finished with impressive figures of 3/27 in his full quota of four overs, while off-break bowler Shivank Vashisht got two wickets in one over.

Opening the innings, wicketkeeper Anuj Rawat top-scored for Delhi with 33-ball 41. Nitish Rana made 34 in 27 balls while Lalit Yadav remained unbeaten on 19 off just six balls. In the day's other group match, Uttar Pradesh beat Uttarakhand by seven wickets and 15 balls to spare.

In another game, Saurashtra defeated Chandigarh by a handsome margin of 42 runs. Batting first, Saurashtra put up a formidable 209/4 with Arpit Vasavada and Sheldon Jackson making 72 and 70 respectively.