Rajasthan's road to the final

Rajasthan started their campaign with a remarkable performance from debutant Deepak Chahar. Hyderabad were shot out for 21 in 78 minutes of mayhem on the opening day, breaking the tournament record for the lowest team total, and equalling the Indian first-class record. Chahar, Rajasthan's 18-year-old medium-pacer, did the damage with a spell that read 7.3-2-10-8. Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the captain, hit 193 as Rajasthan racked up 403 before Hyderabad collapsed for 126 in the second innings. Hyderabad axed four senior players, while their head coach and batting coach resigned in the aftermath of this crushing defeat.

Pankaj and Chahar shared nine wickets to bowl out Goa for 216 before Vineet Saxena hit a hundred to ensure Rajasthan took a 274-run lead. Ajay Ratra racked up 204 and Rahul Keni hit 115 in an unbroken stand of 310 to help Goa draw the game.

It was a run-fest at Vadodara. Vaibhav Deshpande hit a hundred and Robin Bist scored 91 to charge Rajasthan to a massive 523. Devendra Bundela and Syed Abbas Ali hit hundreds as Madhya Pradesh reached 419 for 5. Neither team got a point as even one innings couldn't be completed on a flat track.

In a low-scoring encounter Rajasthan won by 10 wickets. Pankaj grabbed eight wickets to bowl out Tripura for 95 before Aakash Chopra topscored with 62 to help Rajasthan gain a 55-run lead. With the match tantalisingly poised, Pankaj breathed fire in the second innings to pick up six wickets and rout Tripura.

The seamers again did the job for Rajasthan. Pankaj and Chahar shared six wickets to bowl out Jharkhand for 303 before the professional Chopra and Rashmi Parida hit hundreds to help Rajasthan post 488. The legspiner Vivek Yadav eased the seamers' burden in the second innings, grabbing four wickets as Jharkhand fell for 211. Rajasthan earned three points for their effort.

Rajasthan 641 (Chopra 301) and 203 for 2 (Kanitkar 100*) drew with Maharashtra 349 (Paradkar 104*, Yadav 4-63)
Scorecard

Chopra hit his maiden triple-hundred to bury Nasik. Chopra batted over 13 hours and hit 33 fours and three sixes as Rajasthan ran away to a mammoth 641 in their first innings. Nikhil Paradkar hit a hundred but Yadav picked another four-wicket haul to restrict Maharasthra to 349. Kanitkar helped himself to another hundred in the second innings and Rajasthan moved up to the Super League.

In a sensational result, Rajasthan shoved the 39-times champions Mumbai out of the competition to reach the semi-final. It was their talisman Pankaj who took six wickets to restrict Mumbai, who chose to bat, for a below-par 252. Saxena batted for nearly 10 hours for his 143 and Mumbai's woes increased with hundreds from Kanitkar and Ashok Menaria. Mumbai's captain Wasim Jaffer later said that Mumbai paid for their arrogance and complacency.

Rajasthan were put into bat but Chopra and Saxena added 181 runs for the opening wicket before Kanitkar and Menaria hit hundreds to charge them to a strong 552. The match hurtled towards a thrilling finale: Tamil Nadu, if they didn't get bowled out, needed to score 272 runs in 90 overs on the final day to go through based on net run-rate but they were shot out in the last session. For 10 hours and five minutes, Badrinath resisted everything hurled at him, but Rajasthan found a way around him to bowl out Tamil Nadu and get the lead.