Dagar, Dalal star as Delhi beat Sikkim by 9 wickets

Leg-spinner Karan Dagar starred with ball before opener Hiten Dalal scored a blistering half-century as Delhi registered an emphatic nine-wicket win over Sikkim in a Syed Mushtaq Ali encounter here on Sunday.

Dagar (4/12) and medium pacer Simarjeet Singh (2/17) restricted Sikkim to a paltry 88 for seven in stipulated 20 overs before Dalal played an unbeaten innings of 54 off 24 balls to take Delhi home with 11 overs to spare.

win helped Delhi move to second spot in Group E with 18 points from seven games, while Jharkhand were atop standings with 22 points from as seven matches.

Opting to bat, Sikkim were off to a disastrous start with Simarjeet dismissing openers Bibek Diyali and Yashpal Singh in first over itself.

Wicketkeeper Ashish Thapa (17) and skipper Iqbal Abdulla (37), who top-scored, tried to resurrect innings by stitching a 45-run partnership but Dagar bowled out captain in beginning of 11th over.

Dagar n tore through middle order, dismissing Plazor Tamang (0), Bey Upreti (1) and Thapa in next four overs.

In reply, Delhi reached target in nine overs. India opener Shikhar Dhawan, who is struggling for form, fell in sixth over for 19.

However, fellow opener Dalal and wicketkeeper Anuj Rawat (14 t out) helped ir team reach target without much trouble.

Dalal cracked six boundaries and four maximums in his innings while Rawat hit a four and a six each.

In ar group E encounter, Utkarsh Singh (42) and Virat Singh (56) guided Jharkhand to a nine-wicket win over Gujarat.

Brief Scores:

Sikkim 88 for 7 in 20 overs (Iqbal Abdulla 37; Karan Dagar 4/12) lost to Delhi (Hiten Dalal 54 t out; Yashpal Singh 1/16 ) by 9 wickets.

Gujarat 128 for 7 in 20 overs (Urvil Patel 47; Varun Aaron 2/26) lost to Jharkhand 131 for 1 in 18 overs (Virat Singh 56 t out; Arazan Nagwaswalla 1/25) by 9 wickets.

Odisha 149 for 9 in 20 overs ( Subhranshu Senapati 42; Imliwati Lemtur 2/20) beat Nagaland 104 all out in 17 overs ( Yogesh Takawale 31; Pappu Roy 3/21) by 45 runs.

Saurashtra 149 for 7 in 20 Overs (Sheldon Jackson 55; Aquib Nabi (4/43) lost to Jammu & Kashmir 155 for 4 in 19.2 overs ( Parvez Rasool 59 t out; Chetan Sakariya 2/34) by 6 wickets.