Delhi to clash with Rajasthan in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 final

The domestic Twenty20 competition will have a new champion this season as both Delhi and Rajasthan have made their maiden final slated at Eden Gardens under lights on Friday.

In group A at the Eden Gardens, Rajasthan choked in their paltry chase of 130 to

suffer a five-run defeat but they still sneaked into the final on better net run-rate (0.519-0.080).

In the end, Yuvraj Singh's slow batting against Karnataka (29 off 25 balls), Jharkhand (33 off 17 balls) and in today's game (4 off 11 balls) cost Harbhajan Singh led team dearly.

However, Punjab bowlers were superb at the death as they conceded just 21 runs and took two wickets in the last five overs to restrict Rajasthan to 124/8.

It was not enough as Punjab were to restrict Rajasthan under 106 to make their third final appearance.

Earlier, Delhi were the first to book a maiden final berth upsetting a strong Uttar Pradesh in a group B match at the Jadavpur University second campus ground in Saltlake.

On a day India veteran and two-time IPL champion Gautam Gambhir failed to get a big score, Rishabh Pant again did the star turn smashing 34-ball 58 (5x4, 3x6).

Delhi reached 140/9 after being sent in by Uttar Pradesh skipper Suresh Raina.

Fresh from three successive fifty-plus scores that included an ominous 126 not out,

Raina (16) failed when it mattered the most as Uttar Pradesh batting caved in for 137 off the last ball.

It was Subodh Bhati, who triggered the collapse to return with a brilliant 2/28 as the Delhi medium pacer also held his nerve in a nail-biting last over to confirm their maiden final berth from Super League group B. Needing 13 off the last over, diminutive lefthander Saurabh Kumar was all fired up when he started off with

a six off Bhati. But in the next ball, his quickfire 18-ball 33 (2x4, 2x6) was halted by a brilliant runout while he was attempting for a double to retain the strike.