Sharma stars in thrilling win for Rajasthan

Rajasthan 295 for 4 (Sharma 102, Joshi 72) beat Madhya Pradesh 294 (Bundela 71, Mishra 53) by six wickets
Scorecard

Powered by a maiden ton by Rohit G Sharma and his blistering 142-run opening-partnership in 25 overs with Siddharth Joshi, Rajasthan chased down 294 with six wickets and an over to spare in Indore. Nikhil Doru and Ravindra Bisht contributed 41 and an unbeaten 39 respectively to carry on the good work by the openers and steered Rajasthan home. Earlier, Devendra Bundela and Monish Mishra hit fifties and the lower middle-order too contributed to lift Madhya Pradesh to a healthy 294.

Delhi 294 for 4 (Gambhir 116, Chopra 52) beat Haryana 237 (Sahni 53, Sharma 3-40) by 57 runs
Scorecard

Gautam Gambhir hit a fluent ton and shared a 114-run opening stand with Aakash Chopra as Delhi ran away to 294 before restricting Haryana to 237 in the allotted 50 overs to register a convincing win at Patiala. Gambhir struck his first ton in this season in the limited-overs tournament with the help of nine fours and a six to help Delhi post a huge total. The Haryana chase hit a speed breaker early after Amit Bhandari prised out the openers cheaply but they recovered via a 88-run partnership between debutant Vishal Sahni and Sachin Rana. But Abhishek Sharma removed both of them in quick succession to effectively terminate Haryana's hopes.

Railways 105 for 1 (Singh 59*, Yadav 34) beat Vidarbha 104 (Jai P Yadav 4-26) by nine wickets
Scorecard

Jai Prakash Yadav took 4 for 26 to star in a crushing nine-wicket win by Railways at Indore. Yadav ripped apart the top order, taking four of the six wickets, as Vidarbha crumbled to 56 for 6. Not one batsman crossed 25 and Vidarbha were shot out in fewer than 30 overs. Tejinder Paul Singh combined with Yadav to rattle off the required runs in 14.3 overs.

Himachal Pradesh 184 for 3 (Dogra 69, Sandeep Sharma 43) beat Jammu & Kashmir 183 (Nabi 44, Sarandeep 3-31) by seven wickets
Scorecard

A disciplined bowling performance saw Himachal Pradesh restrict J&K to 183 before Paras Dogra steered them home with an unbeaten 69 at Chandigarh. Sarandeep Singh grabbed three wickets as J&K were struggling at 128 for 9 before Abid Nabi indulged in a hit and giggle to lift the score to a more respectable 183. But HP polished off the target with more than 10 overs to spare.

Punjab 151 for 1 (Mongia 70, Goel 61) beat Services 150 (VRV Singh 3-29) by nine wickets
Scorecard

VRV Singh and Vipul Sharma shared five wickets between them as Services were shot out for a paltry 150 at Chandigarh. Dinesh Mongia and Karan Goel stitched together an unbeaten 134-run partnership in 27.1 overs as Punjab romped home in style. What hurt Services was the fact that three batsmen crossed thirty but none carried on to a big score. Punjab did not have any such worry. Mongia hit a 95-ball 70 while Goel moved along at a similar pace for his 83-ball 61 to lift Punjab to top of their group.

Maharashtra 261 (Sriram 53) beat Baroda 258 (Shah 99, Solanki 54) by 3 runs
Scorecard

Sridharan Sriram led a solid Maharashtra batting performance to steer them to the Ramakant Desai Trophy for the West Zone leg of the Ranji one-day tournament. In a thrilling finish, Maharashtra defended 261 gallantly, bowling out Baroda three runs short. Pinal Shah cracked a superb 92-ball 99, including 12 fours and a six, but was unfortunate to end on the losing side.

Once Maharashtra openers Praveen de Shetty and Rohit Motwani had kickstarted the innings, after Baroda chose to field first, Sriram shared a useful 72-run partnership with Nikhil Paradkar. Sairaj Bahutule provided the boost at the end with a 35-ball 33. Baroda slipped to 80 for 4 during their chase but Shah and Rakesh Solanki revived the innings with a 74-run stand in just 12 overs. Shah fell with 31 more needed off 12.2 overs but the loss of too many wickets cost them dear in the final analysis.

Saurashtra 222 for 9 (Pathak 81, Parmar 4-41) beat Gujarat 216 by 6 runs
Scorecard

Chirag Pathak's steady 81 steered Saurashtra to a competitive 222, a total which their bowlers defended gamely to force a six-run win at the Brabourne Stadium. Pathak's 81 came off 91 balls, including eight fours and two sixes, and held the innings together after his side had chosen to bat first. Gujarat had some good batting performance along the way but loss of wickets at regular intervals cost them dear. Rakesh Dhruv snapped up three wickets as Saurashtra finally prevailed in the final over.