Riders in DPL final after a four-wicket win over Strikers

New Delhi, Sep 7 (PTI) Harsh Tyagi’s all-round brilliance helped East Delhi Riders beat North Delhi Strikers by four wickets and enter the Delhi Premier League T20 final here.

The Riders will now face the winners of the second semifinal between South Delhi Superstarz and Purani Dilli 6 in the summit clash on Sunday.

After rain forced the game to be reduced to 18-overs-per-side, North Delhi Strikers put up 173 for 4.

In reply, East Delhi chased down the target in 17.3 overs, courtesy of Tyagi’s unbeaten 43 off 17.

The Riders began their chase at a blistering pace. But Anuj Rawat was dismissed for 18 off 9 in the second over.

Sujal Singh (13 off 11 balls) followed him back to the pavilion in the fifth over, leaving East Delhi at 54 for 2 after Powerplay.

Suyash Sharma then dismissed Pranav Pant (6 off 9), leaving Riders with a challenging equation of 71 runs from 36 balls.

However, Tyagi and Kavya Gupta (25 off 15) fought back in the following overs.

They smashed as many as 22 runs in Solanki’s fourth over to reduce the equation to 21 needed off the 12 balls.

The duo eventually chased down the target with three balls to spare.

Earlier, openers Sarthak Ranjan and Vaibhav Kandpal gave North Delhi a flying start, smashing 58 runs in the five-over Powerplay.

Tyagi then grabbed two quick wickets in the following overs, with the Strikers at 86/3 after 10 overs. Tyagi removed Yash Dabas (2) and Kandpal (39 off 26 balls).

Vaibhav Rawal (29 off 20) and Yash Bhatia (32 off 18) then combined to push the Strikers past the 150-run mark in 16.1 overs.

Their 58-run partnership off 31 balls helped North Delhi post a fighting total in their allotted 18 overs.

Brief Scores: North Delhi Strikers: 173/4 in 18 overs (Vaibhav Kandpal 39, Yajash Sharma 34; Harsh Tyagi 2/17) lost to East Delhi Riders: 177/6 in 17.3 overs (Harsh Tyagi 43 not out, Himmat Singh 27; Siddhartha Solanki 3/40) by four wickets.