Chasing North Delhi Strikers' 144/8 in 20 overs, West Delhi Lions cruised home with nine balls to spare in the Delhi Premier League T20.

New Delhi: Akhil Chaudhary's 4/20 and Ankit Kumar's 15-ball 39 helped West Delhi Lions to a three-wicket win over North Delhi Strikers in the third match of the Delhi Premier League T20 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday. West Delhi Lions restricted North Delhi Strikers to 144/8 in 20 overs as Chaudhary took four wickets.

In reply, West Delhi Lions chased down the target in 18.3 overs. Chasing 145 with explosive intent, West Delhi Lions crossed the 50-run mark in just 3.1 overs, thanks to a quick knock from Ankit. His innings ended when he was caught by Anirudh Chaudhary.

Meanwhile, Shivam Gupta (12 off 8 balls), who supported Ankit well, was dismissed in the next over by Suyash Sharma and Anmol Sharma (17 off 18 balls) was lbw off Manan Bhardwaj in the eighth over. Despite losing back-to-back wickets, West Delhi Lions led at 76/3 after eight overs.

Impact player Ekansh Doble (27 off 24 balls) put on a solid partnership of 38 runs off 36 balls with Dev Lakra (13 off 22 balls). However, Lakra and Dobal were both dismissed in the 14th and 15th overs respectively, leaving the Lions needing 24 off 30 balls.

North Delhi Strikers managed to grab two more wickets in the 18th over with Hrithik Shokin (9 off 10 balls) and Tishant Pawan Dubla (4 off 2 balls) but it was not enough as West Delhi Lions chased down the remaining runs. Nine balls remain.

After opting to bowl first, the West Delhi Lions bowlers did well to prevent the North Delhi Strikers from scoring big. By the end of the powerplay, the North Delhi strikers had lost Sarthak Ranjan (1 off 6 balls) and Yash Dabas (10 off 11 balls). Vaibhav Kandpal started well but was lbw off Hrithik Shokin after scoring 29 off 22 balls.

At 50/3 after seven overs, Yash Bhatia and Vaibhav Rawal steadied the ship with timely boundaries as they put on a crucial 74-run partnership off 55 balls to take the team's total to 100 in the 14th over. Rawal was dismissed for 36 off 29 balls in the 16th over as the strikers tried to pick up the pace. His partner Bhatia scored 37 off 28 balls in the next over, leaving North Delhi struggling to 126/5 after 17 overs.

From there, West Delhi Lions were in the driving seat, picking up three quick wickets. Pranshu Vijayaran (3 off 8 balls) was dismissed cheaply to Navdeep Saini in the 18th over. Chaudhary, who had earlier dismissed Ranjan and Bhatia, completed his quota in the 19th over by dismissing Siddhant Sharma (6 off 3 balls) and Pranav Rajvanshi (1 off 3 balls). Saini bowled the last over as West Delhi Lions kept North Delhi Strikers within 150.