Mongia stars in Punjab win

North Zone
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Dinesh Mongia and Uday Kaul blasted hundreds in Punjab's 76-run win against Jammu and Kashmir at the Harbax Singh Stadium in Delhi. Arriving at the crease at 22 for 1, Mongia slammed 24 fours during his 159 off 135 balls, equalling his highest score. He added 258 runs for the second wicket with Kaul, who played the anchoring role and notched up 105, to propel the score to 327 for 3. Under pressure because of a high chase, Jammu and Kashmir lost two early wickets and though Kavaljit Singh was unbeaten on 106, they could only manage 251 for 5 in 50 overs.

Himachal Pradesh decimated Delhi for 108 and completed a 141-run victory at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. HP were relentless in their defence of 249 and all the bowlers contributed to Delhi's misery and wickets fell frequently. The knock out-punch was when Mithun Manhas, P Bhist and Gaurav Chabra all fell in the space of 11 balls (66 for 6). Vishal Bhatia was the most successful bowler with 3 for 17. After being asked to bat, HP built on a decent start through half-centuries to Sandeep Sharma (78), Sangram Singh (58) and Maninder Bisla (54) and posted 249 for 6.

Haryana's 271 proved too much for Services to chase as they fell short by 43 runs at the Palam A Stadium at Delhi. After winning the toss, Haryana's openers, Sumit Sharma (52) and Mahesh Rawat (66), added 110 runs. Useful middle-order contributions and a 17-ball 30 from Sachin Rana took the score to 271 for 8. For Services' Yashpal Singh top-scored with 75 but three run-outs derailed the chase. Amit Mishra took 3 for 41 as Services were dismissed for 228 in the 46th over.

Central Zone
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A strong bowling performance set up a comprehensive seven-wicket win for Railways against Madhya Pradesh at the KL Saini Ground in Jaipur. Railways' bowlers took full advantage of winning the toss and dismissed MP for 124 in the 47th over. Jai P Yadav returned excellent figures of 2 for 11 from 10 overs but it was Harvinder Singh's three-wicket burst that reduced MP to 22 for 4. In their chase, Railways lost Amit Pagnis for 14 but Shankara Rao (43) and Tejinder Pal Singh (47) reeled off 97 runs for the third wicket as they coasted to 125 for 3 in just the 20th over.

Ratnesh Mishra starred with 5 for 34 as Uttar Pradesh routed Rajasthan by 154 runs at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Chasing 278, Mishra had Rajasthan reeling at 33 for 4 from which they crumpled to 123 all out. Only R Bishnoi, making his debut, offered resistance with 35 beore he became Mishra's fifth scalp. In the first innings, Uttar Pradesh accumulated 277 for 9 through solid top-order contributions. Shiva Shukla top-scored with 66 and he added 91 runs with Jyoti Yadav (61) for the second wicket. For Rajasthan, S Mathur took 4 for 62 and Vivek Yadav chipped in with 3 for 55.

South Zone
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Venugopal Rao's century was in vain as Andhra Pradesh were restricted to 274 for 7 while chasing Tamil Nadu's 313 for 8 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Andhra started well after winnign the toss by dismissing the openers cheaply (26 for 2) but Tamil Nadu recovered through Dinesh Karthik's 79 and attacked with Subramaniam Badrinath's 95 off 82 balls and Vasudevadas's 59 to post 313. Andhra also began their chase badly, losing their openers for 39. Venugopal's run-a-ball 103 propped up the innings but the steadly fall of wickets deprived the innings of much-needed momentum and they could only manage 274.

Somasetty Suresh's 107 and Sony Cheruvathur's 4 for 38 were the highlights of Kerala's seven-wicket win against Hyderabad at the Gymkhana Ground in Hyderabad. Kerala ran riot after putting Hyderabad in, reducing them to 66 for 6. A 100-run stand for the seventh wicket between Amol Shinde (61) and Syed Quadri (49) saved Hyderabad the blushes and took the score to 189 for 8. Though Abhishek Hegde fell early, Suresh controlled Kerala's chase and remained unbeaten as Kerala eased home in the 36th over.

A collective batting performance boosted Karnataka before Sunil Joshi's five-for helped complete a 123-run win against Goa at Secunderabad. Stuart Binny's run-a-ball 74 was the highest score in an innings that surged at the death through Joshi's 47 off 21 balls and a five-ball 20 from NC Aiyappa to finish on 299 for 9. Joshi ran amok with the ball as well, skittling the top and middle orders, and finished with 5 for 20 as Goa were dismissed in the 48th over.

West Zone
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Mumbai romped home to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Saurashtra after a fine bowling performance dismissed Saurashtra for 170 at Vadodara. Wasim Jaffer (75) and Amol Mazumdar, who remained unbeaten on 70, shared a 130-run partnership for the fourth wicket to take Mumbai home in style. Shitanshu Kotak steered Saurashtra, struggling at 43 for 5, out of ignominy with an unbeaten 139-ball 63. He got support from Pratik Mehta (41) but no other batsman crossed 15 as the Mumbai bowlers - Aavishkar Salvi starred with 3 for 27 - stamped their authority.

The pressure of a run chase did Baroda in as Gujarat squeezed out a 17-run victory at the IPCL Sports Complex Ground in Baroda. Chasing a target of 233, Baroda were well placed at 140 for 3 in 32 overs before A Makda caught Kiran Powar off his own bowling to bring Gujarat back into the game. Two crucial blows put Gujarat on top - Jacob Martin (43) fell to SG Patel (43) and Yusuf Pathan (33) was run out - and the lower order could only push the score to 215. Earlier, half-centuries from Bhavik Thaker (83) and Anant Brahmehatt (57) powered Gujarat to 232 for 7 in their allotted overs.