Maharashtra, Vidarbha steady on opening day

Maharashtra recovered from a shaky start to end the opening day of the their Plate semi-final against Himachal Pradesh in a satisfactory position in Pune. Maharashtra chose to bat and lost their openers early, slipping to 45 for 2. They then had a partnership of 53 between Sangram Atitkar and Nikhil Paradkar before losing the third wicket on 98. Paradkar, however, went on to score 80 before he was run out, adding 130 with Ankit Bawne for the fourth wicket. Bawne ended the day on 56, steering his team to 232 for 4. Himachal Pradesh used eight bowlers, none of whom had much success apart from keeping the run-rate under control.

Shalabh Shrivastava stopped a top-order wobble and helped steer Vidarbha to 225 for 5 in their Plate semi-final against Hyderabad in Nagpur. Hyderabad, however, will be pleased with their effort after losing the toss: they struck at regular intervals and limited the scoring. Vidarbha were 26 for 2, having lost Aniruddha Chore and Ravi Jangid in successive overs. Shrivastava, who went on to make 83, added 110 with Shiv Sundar Das, who had held firm at the top for 64. Himachal Pradesh then struck two late blows, reducing Vidarbha from 189 for 3 to 205 for 5 to leave the match evenly balanced.