Mandeep Singh powers Punjab to win, TN hammer Bengal

Former Kings XI opener Mandeep Singh has made a solid case for the national selectors with a second unbeaten fifty for Punjab in Group-B of Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Sunday.

Mandeep who claims to have benefited from applying the T20 techniques passed on by his Royal Challengers' teammates AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli wants to stay focused on delivering the title to Punjab even as he remains keen on the senior India cap.

“My job is to score runs and I am not worried about selection. But it is in the back of my mind that sooner rather than later I'll get a chance,” said the former India U-19 vice-captain.

“Honestly I am focused on the matches for Punjab right now. We have a very good bunch, but unfortunately we have not won a single trophy in 4-5 years,” said Mandeep.

The 24-year-old played a swashbuckling 58 that steered Punjab to an effortless first win in the tournament, by 8 wickets, against Jammu & Kashmir. Pargat Singh gave company with a 34-ball 44 as Punjab chased down 106 inside 15 overs.

Punjab was bolstered by the arrival of Harbhajan Singh who bagged 3/8 in his four while Baltej Singh and Gurinder Singh shared five wickets between them.

In another match, Jharkhand proved class apart for Tripura, crushing them by 9 wickets as Ishank Jaggi hammered an unbeaten 54-ball 75 and his opening partner Virat Singh made 65 from 48.

Rahil’s five-for sinks Bengal

PTI adds: Left-arm spinner Rahil Shah polished off lower half of the Bengal batting with a five-wicket haul as the Tamil Nadu demolished them by 69 runs in a Group A match in Nagpur.

Batting first, Tamil Nadu scored 151/8 with Abhinav Mukund top-scoring with 41. Seamer Alok Pratap Singh took 3/15 while Mohammed Shami scalped 2/30.

The India international now has five wickets from two games. In reply, Bengal were skittled out for 82 in 15.5 overs with Rahil grabbing 5/12.

In Baroda, youngster Nitish Rana played a brillant counter-attacking innings of 97 from 40 balls, which included eight boundaries and an equal number of sixes, as Delhi cantered home by 111 runs against Andhra in a Group C match.

Delhi put an imposing 236/9 before bowling out Andhra for 125 in 19.2 overs.