Mumbai lose the unlosable; Nabi, Sarfaraz, Gaikwad sparkle

It was a three-horse race in Group D on the final day of the VHT league phase with both quarter-final spots up for grabs. Delhi, very early in the day, changed that narrative.

On a chilly morning in Bengaluru, Haryana were blown away by the pace trio of Ishant Sharma, Navdeep Saini and Prince Yadav, who returned three wickets each to skittle out Haryana for 105 in 25.4 overs at the Centre of Excellence on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Ishant bowled a terrific opening spell, which read 5-1-7-3, dismissing all three batters for ducks and Haryana never recovered.

Haryana were on 64 for 8 at one stage before Anuj Thakral and Anshul Kamboj took the score past 100. In reply, Nitish Rana smashed an unbeaten 57 off 39 balls with six fours and four sixes to give Delhi a nine-wicket win as they chased down the 106-target in 13.3 overs and 219 balls to spare.

Mumbai vs Punjab was a match with little consequence as far as qualification was concerned. Both teams had made it to the knockouts and only the position on the points table would be determined from the game. It ended up being one of the matches of the tournament, and one which would leave Mumbai scratching their heads.

With Shreyas Iyer, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube in action, this game drew plenty of eyeballs. Abhishek, the Punjab captain, fell cheaply and so did Prabhsimran Singh. Only Ramandeep Singh (72) and Anmolpreet Singh (57) got among the runs as they were bowled out for 216.

It felt like a routine chase for Mumbai, who were cruising at 139 for 2 inside 15 overs, with Sarfaraz Khan hitting the fastest fifty by an Indian in men's List A cricket. Iyer (45) held one end together even as Mumbai lost Suryakumar Yadav cheaply again, along with Shivam Dube. At one point, Mumbai required 16 to win with more than 27 overs remaining and five wickets in hand. But Iyer fell, and with him, Mumbai. They would still have fancied their chances having reached 212 for 6. But with five to win and four wickets in hand, Mumbai lost their remaining wickets for just three runs to be bowled out for 215 with 23.4 overs remaining.

While there were plenty of low-scoring contests in round 7, Group B games turned out to be run-fests. With Uttar Pradesh (UP) already through, it was a race between Vidarbha, Baroda and Bengal for the second spot. UP made things easier for the other two teams by knocking out Bengal.

Dhruv Jurel continued his stellar run of form, smashing 123 off just 96 balls, as UP chased down Bengal's 270-run target in 42.2 overs in Rajkot. Jurel has notched up a fifty-plus score in six out of the seven innings so far in the tournament, which includes two centuries. Rinku Singh finished unbeaten on 37 while Mohammed Shami managed a solitary wicket for Bengal as UP became the only team to make it to the next round with a spotless record in the league stage.

In Jaipur, Baroda amassed 391 against Chandigarh, with Priyanshu Moliya holding the innings together with 113 off 106 balls. Hardik Pandya smoked 75 off just 31 balls, which included two fours and nine sixes, while Jitesh Sharma scored 73 off 33. Baroda won the game by 149 runs with Hardik picking up 3 for 66 in his ten-over spell. But, in Rajkot, Vidarbha were also unstoppable. R Samarth scored 94 not out off 76, while opener Atharva Taide notched up 80 as Vidarbha beat Assam by 160 runs.

Both Baroda and Vidarbha finished with 20 points, but Vidarbha qualified on account of having a better net run rate.

While this game didn't have any bearing on the qualification, Jammu and Kashmir's Auqib Nabi proved why he is spoken of in such glowing terms. He first picked up 3 for 56 to restrict Hyderabad to 268 and then scored his maiden century in any form of senior cricket to give J&K an improbable three-wicket win.

J&K were in all sorts at 90 for 7, and a defeat was a matter of when, not if. Then came Nabi. Batting at No. 8, he walloped an unbeaten 114 off 82, becoming only the third batter to score a century at No. 8 and lower in VHT history. He hit ten fours and seven sixes and had excellent support from No. 9 Vanshaj Sharma (69*) as the two added an unbroken 182 run-stand for the eighth wicket. Mohammed Siraj returned 2 for 45 off his ten overs with two maidens.

It was a run-fest in another Group B game as Saurashtra beat Gujarat by 145 runs to qualify for the quarter-final. Vishvaraj Jadeja scored 112 off 103 balls, Harvik Desai and Prerak Mankad recorded quick 80s, while Ravindra Jadeja was unbeaten on a 39-ball 52 to take Saurashtra to 383 for 4. Ravindra then returned 3 for 62 as Saurashtra won by 145 runs and became the second team from Group B to qualify.

Madhya Pradesh, meanwhile, stunned Karnataka with a comfortable seven-wicket win. Bowling first, left-arm wristspinner Shivang Kumar, picked up 5 for 45 as Karnataka were bowled out for 207 in 47.4 overs. In reply, captain Venkatesh Iyer remained unbeaten on a 33-ball 65 as MP chased down 208 in 23.2 overs.

Ruturaj Gaikwad's unbeaten 134 off 131 balls lifted Maharashtra - who were at one stage 52 for 6 - to 249 for 7 against Goa. This was Gaikwad's 15th VHT ton and he equalled team-mate Ankit Bawne for the most centuries in the tournament's history. Gaikwad also became the quickest to score 20 hundreds in List A cricket, getting there in his 95th innings. This was also the quickest any batter had taken to reach 5000 runs in List A cricket (by innings). Prithvi Shaw had another poor return, falling for 1.

Elsewhere, Tamil Nadu ended their poor season on a high note. N Jagadeesan led the way with 139 off 126 balls, while Mohamed Ali and Sachin Rathi picked up four wickets apiece to defeat Kerala by 77 runs. In Ahmedabad, Sushant Mishra, the Jharkhand quick, picked up a career-best 6 for 52 but Jharkhand, chasing 321 against Tripura, were bowled out for 123 to bow out of the tournament.