Rishabh Pant celebrates India call-up with breezy knock at T20 Cup

Mumbai: Delhi's left-handed wicketkeeper- batsman Rishabh Pant, named in the national T20 squad, gave a glimpse of his prowess on the third day of the 13th DY Patil T20 Cup on Friday evening. Reliance 1's Pant, named today in India's T20 squad to take on the visiting England team, slammed a 14-ball 43, a knock that included five towering sixes and two boundaries, at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. It was this innings that set up Reliance 1's narrow three-wicket win over Tata Sports Club. Supplementing Pant's heroics was his India T20 teammate Hardik Pandya, who scored a brisk 28-ball 36 with two sixes and a boundary. Batting first, Tata Sports Club posted a decent 149-5 in 20 overs. Later, Reliance 1 lost wickets after Pant's blitzkrieg, but they managed to emerge winners in the end with 10 balls to spare. India's ODI batsman Manish Pandey, playing on the adjoining University Ground at the same time, scored a 26-ball 30, but his side BPCL lost to DY Patil 'B' by a narrow two- wicket margin with just one ball to spare. Earlier in the day, RBI Sports Club beat Canara Bank by seven wickets at the DY Patil Stadium and CAG posted an emphatic nine-wicket win over ONGC at the University Ground. The tournament now takes a break on the weekend and the action will resume on January 9. BRIEF SCORES At DY Patil Stadium: Group B: Canara Bank 135-6 in 20 overs (KB Pawan 62 n.o., Dikshanshu Negi 25; Kuldip Hudda 2-28, Jyot Chhaya 2-20) lost to RBI Sports Club 136-3 in 18.2 overs (Sumit Ghadigaonkar 47, Dhruv Shaurya 46 n.o.; Suchit Jagdish 2-21)-by seven wickets. At University Ground: Group C: ONGC 160-7 in 20 overs (Shubham Khujeria 43, Muhammad Saif 36, Rahul Terwatia 41; Ishwar Pandey 2-19) lost to CAG 164-1 in 15.1 overs (Swapnil Salvi 89 n.o., Bervesh Shetty 37 n.o.) by nine wickets. At University Ground: Group A: BPCL 148-9 in 20 overs (Eknath Kerkar 51, Manish Pandey 30; Shashank Singh 2-22; Sarfaraz Khan 2-12) lost to DY Patil 'B' 149-8 in 19.5 overs (Kevin Almeida 53, Rinku Singh 36; Rishi Arothe 4-3, Pragyan Ojha 2-16)-by two wickets. At DY Patil Stadium: Group B: Tata Sports Club 149-5 in 20 overs (Ian Dev Chouhan 45, Nikhil Patil 29 n.o., Sairaj Patil 26 n.o.; Saurabh Kumar 3-17) lost to Reliance 1 150-7 in 18.2 overs (Rishabh Pant 43, Hardik Pandya 36; Umar Nazzr 2-21, Kaustubh Pawar 2-20)-by three wickets.