Chandigarh/Patiala: The North Zone Vinoo Mankad Trophy got underway at Cricket Stadium Sector 16, Chandigarh and Dhruv Pandove Stadium Patiala.

Delhi brushed aside the Himachal challenge by recording a seven-wicket win.

Winning the toss and electing to field Delhi restricted HPCA to 167 for 8 in 50 overs. SG Arora 46, AP Singha 25, NA Sharma 25 were the main run getters for Himachal. For Delhi S Sharma 2 for 30, Vishwas Malik 2 for 23, Yogesh Sharma 3 for 34 were the main wicket takers.

In reply, Delhi knocked off 169 for loss of three wickets in 28 overs to record a seven-wicket win and garner four points.

Delhi innings was propelled by opener Rishab Pant who was unlucky to miss his century by nine runs, scoring 91 off just 61 balls, studded with 14 boundaries and three sixes. Other notable contributions came from Utkarsh Singh 26 and Himat Singh unbeaten 35.

For Himachal CS Malhotra 2 for 20 was the most successful bowler.

Meanwhile, Punjab beat J&K by six wickets at Dhruv Pandove Stadium, Patiala. JKCA, winning the toss and batting first, scored 164 for 9 in the allotted 50 overs, Mohd Haziq 53, Nipun Verma 28 and Tahsin Dar 37 were the main run getters. Prerit Dutta 3 for 23, Abhinav Sharma 2 for 25 Jagjit Singh 2 for 21 , Akul Pandove 1 for 35 were the main wicket takers for Punjab.

In reply, Punjab scored 165 for 4 in 29.4 overs. Punjab opened with Karan Sharma and Shubman Gill who put on 45 runs for the first wicket before Karan Sharma was caught by Mohd Haziq off Lone Nasir for 28 off 27 balls, inclusive of four boundaries and one six.

Thereafter Shubman Gill and Anmolpreet Singh put on 83 runs for the third wicket before Anmolpreet was caught by Haziq off Tribhuvan for 37 off 33 balls inclusive of 4 boundaries and one six. Shubman Gill remained unbeaten on 74 off 86 balls with 8 boundaries and 2 sixes. Punjab got 4 points for the win while JKCA got zero.

The second round matches will be played on October 3 with Delhi taking on Haryana at Cricket Stadium, Sector 16 at 9.00 am while Punjab will cross swords with Himachal at Dhruv Pandove Stadium, Patiala.