Delhi succumb to Tripura by 12 runs in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s

Delhi cricket team succumbed to a humiliating loss against unfancied Tripura in a Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 match, hitting a new low in the season.

The batting failed completely after the bowlers had managed to keep Tripura to 157/5 in 20 overs.

The pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium was on the slower side and it didn’t the help the Delhi batsmen who are used to liking pace on the ball.

After the early dismissal of Priyansh Arya (8 off 10), Yash Dhull (25 off 19) and skipper Nitish Rana (45 off 40) set up a good platform, adding 47 in five overs.

Even after Dhull was dismissed, it seemed Delhi had the game in their grasp. But the slowness of the surface disallowed Delhi to score freely and soon No. 4 Ayush Badoni (14 off 13) and Himmat Singh (1 off 3) fell in quick succession to leave Delhi tottering at 77/4 by the end of the 12th over.

Although Nitish Rana and Tejasvi Dahiya (23 off 20) tried to up the scoring rate and added 40 for the fifth wicket to put Delhi back on course, the equation of 41 runs off 22 balls – when Rana fell -- and 20 off eight balls when Dahiya fell left Delhi behind in the game. In fact, Delhi needed 20 off the last over and it was always going to be tough. 

The Tripura bowlers took the pace off the ball and bowled wide outside the off-stump. Failing to get runs, showed the lack of Delhi batsmen’s ability to milk runs against off-pace bowling.

They fell 12 runs short and are now placed fourth on the Elite Group D points table. Delhi play Karnataka on Thursday in a must-win game.

Earlier, Tripura enjoyed some early loose bowling from Delhi bowlers as they got almost 50 runs in the powerplay. 

Tripura skipper Mani Shankar Mura Singh (in pic) was the Player of the Match for his all-round show (25 off 18 and 2/19).   

Tags : Mani Shankar Mura Singh, Narendra Modi Stadium, Delhi cricket team, Syed Mushtaq Ali T20, Tripura, Nitish Rana