Mumbai suffer second straight loss

West Zone

Bhavik Thaker's unbeaten 87 steered Gujarat to a close three-wicket win against Mumbai in Rajkot in a match that had to be abandoned due to an unsuitable pitch and restarted on an adjoining strip. The original match ceased to exist after 6.5 overs, by which time Gujarat, who won the toss, had reached 26 for 1. Mumbai won the toss for the new game, 41 overs a side, and chose to bat.

Mumbai, who lost the first game as well, had a shaky start with two wickets falling in the first six overs. Rohit Sharma and Amol Muzumdar took charge of the innings, and wicketkeeper Aditya Tare provided the late impetus to push them to 222. Gujarat lost wickets regularly in the reply - left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla took 3 for 36 in nine overs - and three quick blows left them at 178 for 7 in 36.2 overs. However, Thaker got support from Rohit Dahiya (19 off 13 balls), and the two added 47 in 24 balls to take their side home.

Defending champions Saurashtra began their campaign with a loss to Maharashtra at the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground in Rajkot. Put in, Saurashtra were reeling at 49 for 6, with Samad Fallah striking thrice. The lower order then rallied around Ravindra Jadeja, who made a run-a-ball 70. When Jadeja fell, Saurashtra were 170 for 8 in 40 overs, but the tailenders managed to take them to 214. That total, though, was overhauled with ease. Opener Harshad Khadiwale top scored with 63, Kedar Jadhav made 58, and newcomers Ankit Bawne and Azhar Ansari sealed the deal with 7.5 overs remaining.

South Zone

Centuries from S Badrinath and Dinesh Karthik set up an emphatic 185-run win for Tamil Nadu over Kerala in Visakhapatnam. Asked to bat, TN were bolstered by opener M Vijay's run-a-ball 73. Karthik and Badrinath then combined for a double-century stand, helping TN past the 350-mark. Badrinath's 122 took 110 balls, while Karthik's unbeaten 113 came off 73 deliveries. Kerala struggled in their chase of 370, and despite Padmanabhan Prasanth's 73 from No. 8, they could manage only 184. Yo Mahesh finished with figures of 4 for 35.

Like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka too posted their second straight win, beating Hyderabad by 50 runs at the Ukku Stadium. Batting first Karnataka's openers, Robin Uthappa and CM Gautam, built a steady platform. Brisk 60s from Manish Pandey and Deepak Chougule, and a 21-ball 29 from B Akhil, boosted them to 269 in 49.4 overs. Shoaib Ahmed, playing his second game, picked up his maiden List A five-for. Opener TS Suman led Hyderabad's chase with his 93 off 86 balls, but left-arm spinners Sunil Joshi and KP Appanna took seven wickets between them to cut short the chase. Abhinav Kumar, who made 47, was last man out as Hyderabad were dismissed for 219 in 44.3 overs.

Nineteen-year-old Duvvarapu Shivkumar's 5 for 20 brought an early close to the contest between Andhra and Goa, with the hosts completing a 169-run win at the at Port Trust Golden Jubilee Stadium in Visakhapatnam. Shivkumar, playing his second List A game, ran through the Goa line-up after D Kalyankrishna struck the first three blows. Debtuant GVS Prasad picked up the final two wickets, as Goa, chasing 286, were bundled out for 116 in 28.1 overs. Batting first, Andhra were boosted by half-centuries from Hemal Watekar, Manoj Sai, Avadhanam Rakesh and Gnaneswara Rao. However, they lost their last six wickets for 13 runs, and were bowled out in 49 overs. Shadab Jakati, the Goa captain, took 5 for 61 off his ten overs.

Central Zone

The bowlers were the stars as Railways beat Rajasthan by 54 runs in Indore. Batting first, Railways put up 228 for 9, with Yere Goud top scoring with 45. Opener V Cheluvaraj took 85 balls for his 38, but both he and Dhiraj Salvi failed to build on the 30-plus scores. Murali Kartik, captaining in this game, made a quick 44 and debutant Agha Shahid hit 29 off 21 balls to boost Railways' total. The two left-arm spinners then played a key role in choking Rajasthan's chase, sharing five wickets for 52 runs. Legspinner Karan Sharma took 3 for 33 off his ten, and opening bowler Dilip Yadav chipped in with two as Rajasthan were rolled over for 174. Three of the top four got starts - Pranay Sharma got his maiden List A half-century - but none of the others made it past double figures.

A resounding batting display from Madhya Pradesh made it two losses in as many days for Vidarbha in Indore. Put in, Vidarbha's top order came up with a strong performance, but a flurry of wickets towards the end kept them to 260. Openers Faiz Fazal and Amit Paunikar scored half-centuries, while No. 3 Shalabh Shrivastava hit an unbeaten 83. Vidarbha, at 200 for 2 in 38.3 overs, lost seven wickets for 60 runs in the final 11.3. Sanjay Pandey, Jalaj Saxena and Ashutosh Jadhav took three wickets apiece.

MP, though, powered to the target in 40.4 overs - missing the bonus point by a whisker - thanks to a 221-run second-wicket stand between captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar and wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha. Kanitkar hit 20 fours in his 123, while Ojha's 90 included nine fours and two sixes.