Second Tour T20: Allround Harshal helps India beat Northamptonshire by 10 runs

India were rescued by a superb 36-ball 54 by pacer Harshal Patel while captain Dinesh Karthik scored 34 off 26 balls as they eked out a 10-run win over county side Northamptonshire in their second tour T20 on Sunday.

After put in to bat by Northamptonshire, India lost opener Sanju Samson off the first ball when he was trapped by captain Josh Cobb. Dutch pacer Brandon Glover struck twice in the third to remove Rahul Tripathi and Suryakumar Yadav for single digit scores as the visitors were reeling at 8/3 by the end of third over.

Opener Ishan Kishan (16 off 20 balls) was the next to depart as India had to put on a rescue act from 51/4 in 8.2 overs.

Captain Karthik added 21 runs Venkatesh Iyer (20 off 22 balls) before Freddie Heldreich dismissed him in the 12th over.

Harshal, who joined Iyer in the middle, was the aggressor as he smashed five boundaries and three sixes in his innings. The pair added 60 runs off 44 balls for the sixth wicket as India moved towards a sizeable total.

Harshal returned as the eighth wicket as India finished 149/8 in 20 overs.

Chasing 150, Northamptonshire lost opener Ricardo Vasconcelos when was caught by Arshdeep Singh off Prasidh Krishna.

India, who used six bowlers in total, got wickets at regular intervals with Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal and Harshal all claiming two each.

Saif Zaib was the top scorer for the hosts with a 33-ball 35, but none of the others scored were able to score quickly. Zaib brought Northamptonshire closer despite being reduced to 122/9 in 17 overs.

Harshal added the finishing touch when he castled Zaib off the final over to bring up 10-run win for India.

In their first tour game on Friday, India beat Derbyshire by seven wickets. The current squad will carry over to the first T20I against England at Southampton on July 7.