Pacers Siddarth Kaul and Mandeep Singh bagged three wickets each as Punjab thrashed Rajasthan by six wickets to enter the final of Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 cricket tournament here today.
Electing to bat, Rajasthan were bowled out for 101 in 19 overs thanks to a fine bowling display by Kaul (3/11) and Mandeep (3/21) at the DRIEMS Ground at Tangi.
Mandeep followed his career-best figures of 3 for 21 with a 29 off 18 balls as Punjab chased down the target with 20 balls to spare by reaching 102 for 4 in 16.4 overs.
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Rajasthan were rattled early and were reduced to 25 for 3, with Shubek Gill dismissing Ankit Lamba and Arjit Gupta in the space of three balls.
Sourabh Chauhan (13), Ashok Menaria (18), Rajesh Bishnoi (16), Puneet Yadav (12) all got starts, but none managed a substantial contribution, as Rajasthan slumped to 96 for 8, with Mandeep dismantling the middle order. Kaul then polished off the tail with a double-strike in the penultimate over.
Punjab themselves endured a top-order wobble in their run chase, losing both their openers to Pankaj Singh inside three overs, but Mandeep and Taruwar Kohli (15) added 41 to steady the chase.
Though both perished at the brink of victory, captain Gurkeerat Singh (27 not out) and Himanshu Chawla (12 not out) completed the formalities by the 17th over.
