Up and coming player Rohit Sharma pulverised Gujarat bowling to crack an unbeaten century after starting off with a first-ball six to power Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai to a comprehensive five-wicket win in the West Zone Twenty20 tournament in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Sharma slammed pacer Ishwar Chaudhary over mid-wicket to shatter the window pane of the Cricket Club of India's "Wet Wicket" bar off the first ball he received enroute to a superb 101 not out off 49 balls as Mumbai made 145 for five in reply to Gujarat's 141 for 6.
Sharma came to the crease when his team was in trouble but went on to slam five sixes and 13 fours, the last boundary hit fetching him his hundred.
The 20-year-old youngster helped Mumbai recover from 67 for four and 94 for five to the finishing line in the company of Iqbal Abdulla (10 not out) by adding 51 runs.
Earlier, Gujarat's Jai Desai scored an unbeaten 51 off 34 balls with seven fours while Vikram Solanki (31) and B Thakkar (25) did their bit with a 60-run stand in 43 balls to help their side to a decent total.
Scores: Gujarat 141 for 6 in 20 overs (Jai Desai 51 not out, V Solanki 31, B Thakkar 25; A Salvi 3 for 28) lost to Mumbai 145 for 5 in 17.3 overs (Rohit Sharma not out 101; Siddharth Trivedi 2 for 22).
Goel stars in Punjab victory
Opener Karan Goel hit a sensible half century (82) to help Punjab script a three-wicket victory over Himachal Pradesh in a North Zone Twenty20 cricket match at Ferozshah Kotla ground in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Chasing a challenging target of 170 runs, Punjab's experienced batting line-up achieved victory with two balls to spare.
Goel's 60-ball blitzkrieg was studded with eight boundaries and four hits over the ropes. After the departure of Ravneet Ricky, Yuvraj Singh (17) came to crease. But he failed to impress.
Goel led the fireworks with the help his clean hits and shared 63-run partnership with experienced Dinesh Mongia (39), whose innings contained five fours.
Earlier, riding on skipper Sandeep Sharma's blazing half century (60) and Paras Dogra's useful knock (45), Himachal Pradesh got a good start. Sangram Singh's quickfire 39 boosted the innings as they set a challenging total of 169 on the board.
