Pujara ton not enough to down Mumbai

Cheteshwar Pujara provided a reminder of his one-day credentials with a 138 against domestic powerhouses Mumbai but Saurashtra couldn't force a victory in Ahmedabad as another man tagged as a long-form specialist, Wasim Jaffer, slammed 83 off 67 to drive the chase. With his chances of making the World Cup squad fading, Pujara hit his first List A century since August 2013, and put on 138 for the fourth wicket with Arpit Vasavada to lead Saurashtra to 279. Jaffer was also involved in a large fourth-wicket stand - 111 with Shreyas Iyer - to power Mumbai at over six an over. There were important cameos from Sufiyan Shaikh and Suryakumar Yadav later, but it was left to Nos 9 and 10, Wilkin Mota and Shardul Thakur, to shepherd Mumbai home to a tense win in the final over.

The match also marked the return of Saurashtra seamer Siddharth Trivedi from a one-year ban for not reporting an approach by bookies during the IPL. Trivedi took 4-42 in the game, just marginally short of his personal best in List A cricket.

Fifties from Smit Patel, Priyank Kirit Panchal and Rujul Bhatt helped Gujarat gun down 314 against Baroda in Ahmedabad. Gujarat began their chase steadily with a 101-run opening stand between Smit (54) and Panchal (81), but two wickets apiece from Yusuf Pathan and Deepak Hooda dragged the team down to 190 for 5, with 124 needed from 67 balls at almost 12 an over.

Baroda woud've backed themselves to defend the total from there, but Bhatt counterattacked by slamming 89 off 62 balls with nine fours and three sixes. He put up an unbroken 125 for the sixth wicket with Jesal Karia, who hit a 34-ball 42, as Gujarat were home with three balls to spare.

Baroda, after being put in, had earlier powered to 313 for 7. Their innings was mainly built around a 140-run partnership between Pathan (75) and Hardik Pandya (69), after the opener Saurabh Wakaskar had blazed a 60-ball 61. Karia contributed with the ball as well for Gujarat, picking up 3 for 45.

An incisive bowling performance from Himachal Pradesh paved the way for a six-wicket victory against Haryana in Dharamsala. Himachal's bowlers all went at under five an over, as Haryana, batting first, were dismissed for 163 in 48.3 overs. While a few of their batsmen made starts, none were able to stay long enough to string together a meaningful partnership, and Sunny Singh was their top-scorer with 34. Medium-pacer Pankaj Jaiswal was the pick of Himachal's bowlers, taking 3 for 23, while Raghav Dhawan chipped in with 2 for 16.

An early burst from Joginder Sharma (3 for 17) reduced Himachal to 45 for 3, but Paras Dogra (71*) and Nikhil Gangta (56) both raised half-centuries during a 94-run partnership to guide the team home in 38 overs.

Fifties from Ian Dev Singh and Parvez Rasool helped Jammu & Kashmir to a three-wicket win in the last over against Services in Bilaspur. After losing Ahmed Bandy in the second ball of their chase, Ian Dev and Adil Rishi got J&K's chase underway with a 99-run, second-wicket stand. A number of quick blows from Suraj Yadav and Avishek Sinha reduced the team to 122 for 4, but Rasool took charge, hitting seven fours and a six during an unbeaten 69. He received ample support from Bandeep Singh, who held up at his end during an 89-run stand, eventually paving the way for a close win.

Medium-pacer Mehjoor Ali had earlier helped keep Services to 236 for 9 by collecting 3 for 47 to rattle their top and middle order. Nakul Verma and Rajat Paliwal both notched fifties and shared in a 122-run partnership, but Rasool, Waseem Raza and Ram Dayal took two wickets each to ensure Services did not balloon away to a massive total.

Delhi made hard work of a 188-run chase against Punjab in Nadaun, but Rajat Bhatia's unbeaten 58 led the team to a four-wicket win. Batting first in a game that was reduced to 45 overs per side, Punjab could only manage 182 for 6. Taruwar Kohli top-scored with an unbeaten 50, and Gurkeerat Singh Mann hit 47, but the Delhi bowlers all went at under six an over, pegging Punjab back with wickets at regular intervals. Sumit Narwal was the pick of the lot, claiming 3 for 23.

Delhi did not begin the chase convincingly and lost Virender Sehwag off the fourth ball. Amitoze Singh's three wickets rattled the team's top order, but Gautam Gambhir and Milind Kumar had kept the score moving with twenties. Bhatia and Puneet Bisht then eased the equation with a 51-run partnership. Bisht fell for 30, but Bhatia and Narwal amassed the target with an over to spare.

Karnataka pulled off their second dominant win in two days, beating Goa by seven wickets at Secunderabad with more than 22 overs to spare. After Goa chose to bat, several of their experienced batsmen were dismissed early - Swapnil Asnodkar for 9 and Sagun Kamat run-out for a duck. Youngster Darshan Misal hit his second half-century in a row to lift Goa, but with no other batsman reaching 30, Goa were bowled out for 183 in the 41st over. The wickets continued to tumble when Karnataka's chase began, and by the 8th over they were wobbling at 43 for 3. Unbeaten half-centuries from Manish Pandey and Karun Nair, however, took Karnataka to a comfortable victory.

Former Karnataka batsman, KB Pawan, scored a century for his new team Kerala but it wasn't enough to prevent a narrow defeat to Tamil Nadu. It was the second time in two days that Kerala had gone down in the final over of the game, while it was Tamil Nadu's second successive victory. Pawan had two substantial partnerships, 68 for the third wicket with Amit Verma and 69 for the fourth with Rohan Prem, but with Kerala at 166 for 3 after 35 overs, they couldn't push on, adding only 88 in the final 15. Half-centuries from M Vijay and B Aparajith put Tamil Nadu on course but a mid-innings stutter left them needing their captain R Sathish to blast 55 off 33 to take them home with a ball to spare.

Mohammad Kaif scored his fourth successive List A half-century to guide his new team, Andhra, to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Hyderabad. It was the Andhra bowlers who set up the win though by running through the Hyderabad line-up for 193. After Hyderabad had slipped from 74 for 1 to 80 for 5, it was a 43 from Ashish Reddy that provided even that modest target for Andhra. Kaif came in at 8 for 1 in the chase, and stayed till the end, making a patient unbeaten 88. His 103-run partnership for the third wicket with Bharat Reddy formed the bulwark of the chase and virtually confirmed Andhra's first win of the tournament.

Central Zone

An unbeaten 96 from Mahesh Rawat guided Railways to a four-wicket win against Vidarbha in Nagpur. Rawat struck five fours and a six during his knock, and his 89-run stand for the fourth wicket with Ashish Yadav (47) laid the foundation for their successful chase of 207. Three quick wickets dragged Railways down to 165 for 6, but Rawat carried on, adding an unbroken 45 with Arnab Nandi to complete the win in 48.1 overs.

Earlier, Yadav, Anureet Singh and Karn Sharma picked up two wickets each, dismissing Vidarbha for a paltry 206. S Badrinath, whose 86 had helped the team to a big win against Rajasthan on Friday, was missing with a hamstring injury. His absence was felt, as Vidarbha failed to produce a significant partnership, with Jitesh Sharma producing the only notable score: 54 off 60.

A three-wicket haul from Piyush Chawla and an important half-century from Akshdeep Nath were the cornerstones behind Uttar Pradesh's three-wicket victory against Madhya Pradesh. Chasing a competitive 251, most of Uttar Pradesh's top and middle-order batsmen chipped in with handy scores, as the team gunned down the total in 48 overs despite losing wickets at regular intervals. Nath stroked two fours and sixes each during his 55, while Mukul Dagar and Eklavya Dwivedi pitched in with knocks of 44 and 48 respectively.

Batting first, Madhya Pradesh were struggling at 122 for 5 before Jatin Saxena (68) and Ankit Sharma (65) both muscled lively fifties to push the total to 250 for 6, though it ultimately wasn't enough. Chawla finished with 3 for 37, and Ankit Rajpoot took 2 for 42.