Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Bihar beat Arunachal Pradesh in Plate group match, Nitish Rana stars as Delhi thump Mumbai

Chennai: Bihar beat Arunachal Pradesh by 18 runs in their opening Plate group match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament on Monday. Opting to bat, Bihar were bowled out for 122 in 20 overs with MD Rahmatullah (24) making the highest score. For Arunachal Pradesh, medium-pacer Manvan Patel took 4 for 20. In reply, Arunachal faltered after a bright start by the openers— Neelam Obi (20) and Kumar Nyompu (23)— and were restricted to 104 for 9. Aman (3/17) and Sachin Kumar (3/22) shone for Bihar with the ball. In other matches, Sikkim beat Mizoram by 10 wickets in a shortened game and Manipur defeated Meghalaya by six wickets. Brief Scores: Meghalaya 62 all out in 13 overs (D Ravi Teja 35, Rex Rajkumar 2/7, Bishwarjit Konthoujam 2/7) lost to Manipur 66 for 4 in 12.1 overs (Narsingh Yadav 33 not out, Nitesh Sedai 24 not out) by six wickets. Points: Manipur: 4, Meghalaya: 0. Mizoram 47 for 3 in 5 overs (KB Pawan 27) lost to Sikkim 50 for no loss in 3.4 overs (Anureeet Singh 28 not out) by 10 wickets. Points: Sikkim: 4, Mizoram: 0. Bihar 122 all out in 20 overs (MD Rahmatullah 24, Manvan Patel 4/20) beat Arunachal Pradesh 104 for 9 in 20 overs (Kumar Nyompu 23, Ashutosh Aman 3/17) by 18 runs. Points: Bihar: 4, Arunachal: 0. Chandigarh vs Nagaland match abandoned without a ball being bowled. Delhi thrash Mumbai by 76 runs Delhi started their campaign at Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with a thumping 76-run win over domestic heavyweights Mumbai in an Elite Group ‘E’ game at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday. [caption id=“attachment_9191731” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Delhi players celebrate their victory over Mumbai. Twitter @BCCIdomestic[/caption] Put in to bat, Delhi rode on a blazing 74 off 37 balls by two-down Nitish Rana to post a mammoth 206 for 4 and then bundled out Mumbai for a meagre 130, with left-arm pacer Pradeep Sangwan (3/20) leading from the front. Delhi openers Shikhar Dhawan (23) and Hiten Dalal (24) started in an aggressive manner putting 38 in 4 overs. However, Dhawan could not convert his start, and Delhi were 56/2 at one stage. However, one-down Himmat Singh (53 off 32 balls) and Rana took the Mumbai attack to cleaners and added 122 for the third wicket. The left-handed Rana hammered seven fours and five sixes, while Singh struck three boundaries and four maximums as Mumbai bowlers were made to toil hard. Mumbai never got going in the chase as they lost half their side for 52. Mumbai batters Yashasvi Jaiswal (0), Aditya Tare (3), Suryakumar Yadav (7), Siddhesh Lad (4) and Sarfaraz Khan (15) fell cheaply. All-rounder and India player Shivam Dube hit a whirlwind 42-ball 63, with three fours and five sixes, but that was too little and too late. India speedster Ishant Sharma, who returned to competitive cricket after sustaining a side strain during IPL, ended with figures of 2/16. Brief Scores: At Wankhede Stadium: Delhi 206/4 (Nitish Rana 74, Himmat Singh 53; Shams Mulani 2/43) won against Mumbai 130 (Shivam Dube 63; Pradeep Sangwan 3/20, Ishant Sharma 2/16) by 76 runs. At BKC Ground: Andhra Pradesh 107/6 (Ricky Bhui 39; K S Bharat 23; Jayant Yadav 2/13; Yuzvendra Chahal 2/21) lost to Haryana 108/4 (C K Bishnoi 42 not out; S R Chauhan 35; Naren Reddy 1/4) by six wickets.