Syed Mushtaq Ali: Sumeet Verma scored a lightning-quick fifty, and Rishi Dhawan picked up three wickets as Himachal Pradesh defeated Punjab by 13 runs on Thursday in Kolkata to go to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final. Sumeet, who was given the opportunity to bat, scored 51 runs in 25 balls, including three fours and as many maximums, and Akash Vasisht added 43 runs in 24 balls, including two sixes and four knocks to the fence, to lead HP to 176 for 7. Anmol Preet Singh (30), Mandeep Singh (29) and Ramandeep Singh (29) all contributed, but it wasn’t enough as they could only score 163-7 in their 20 overs in response to Shubman Gill’s 32-ball 45 at the top.
The majority of the damage was done to Himachal by Dhawan, who made the first dismissal by removing openers Abhishek Sharma (1), Pukhraj Mann (10) and Ramandeep.
Among the wickets were those taken by Mayank Dagar (2/27), Kanwar Abhinay Singh (1/27), and Akash Vasisht (1/8).
Himachal, winner of the 2021–22 Vijay Hazare Trophy, started the powerplay at 32 for 2, but Sumeet and Akash added 45 runs in 23 balls to get their team almost to the 100-point threshold.
After Sumeet was bowled out by Sanvir Singh in the 13th over, Akash assumed responsibility and scored another 47 runs off of 27 balls with Pankaj Jaswal (27) to help them reach a respectable total.
In his 16-ball cameo, Jaswal crushed two fours and a six.
Punjab’s batting stalled out while trying to reach the goal.
With seven smashes to the fence and a six in his innings, Gill seemed strong at the top, but after he was gone, Punjab had fallen to 61 for 3 in the 10th over.
Punjab lost half of their team for 103 runs in the 15th over despite Anmolpreet’s best efforts to revive the pursuit.
With a 38-run stand, captain Mandeep and Ramandeep raised expectations of a revival, but ultimately it was too little, too late.
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