Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy semi-finals; Mumbai fall short

Washington Sundar and M Siddharth helped Tamil Nadu book a semi-final berth by setting up an easy win against Jharkhand. The spin duo shared seven wickets between them, flattening Jharkhand's batting line-up and helping bowl them out for 85, which Tamil Nadu's top-order then mowed down in 13.5 overs. Washington also top-scored with a 22-ball 38.

Jharkhand captain Saurabh Tiwary was the only batsman to reach 20, after he had opted to bat. Washington accounted for the first three wickets to fall, following which Tiwary and Sumit Kumar batted it out for 4.1 overs to put up a 17-run stand - the highest in Jharkhand's innings - before M Ashwin dismissed the former. Left-arm spinner Siddharth then ran riot, picking up three wickets in the space of 12 balls, including a double-strike in the 12th over. R Sai Kishore, the tournament's top wicket-taker, then made Sonu Singh his 19th victim of the season. Siddharth had Sumit pinned in front in the next over to bag his second four-for this season, to move to 11 wickets in just three games. Vivekanand Tiwari's run-out in the 19th over ended Jharkhand's innings, with Washington finishing with figures of 3 for 10 and Siddharth with 4 for 18.

Tamil Nadu lost openers C Hari Nishant for 7 and M Shahrukh Khan for 24, before a steady 51-run stand between Washington and Dinesh Karthik ensured a comfortable victory. Tamil Nadu will face Rajasthan in their semi-final in Surat on Friday. R Ashwin will join the squad ahead of the semi-final.

Fifties from Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav fired Mumbai to a big total and had the team briefly dreaming of a semi-final spot, but their bowlers were unable to follow through and complete the job. This meant their 22-run victory over Punjab was little more than a consolation.

Mumbai began their Group B game in third place, four points behind Karnataka and needing a massive victory to boost their net run rate (NRR) and stand any chance of qualifying for the semi-finals.

Their batsmen gave them that chance, as Mumbai compiled 243 for 3 from their 20 overs, thanks to Shaw's rapid start (53 off 27 balls) and later a 140-run third-wicket stand between Iyer (80*) and the captain Yadav (80).

Mumbai would have leapfrogged Karnataka had they kept Punjab to 150 or fewer, but those hopes quickly faded as Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma began the chase by racing to 84 inside eight overs. By the time Gill was dismissed for a 38-ball 78, in the 16th over, Punjab had motored to 175, mathematically ending Mumbai's pursuit of a semi-final spot.

Punjab, however, failed to regain momentum after Gill's wicket, as a double-strike from Tushar Deshpande hampered their chase. They were left needing 47 off the last two overs, and Anmolpreet Singh's late cameo (20 off 8 balls) was not enough to stave off defeat.

Rajasthan prevailed in a close finish against Delhi to gain the net run-rate advantage over Maharashtra and qualify for the semi-final. Rajasthan, Baroda and Maharashtra all finished with eight points in Super League Group B, but Rajasthan's superior net run-rate of -0.254 was enough to send them through.

Rajasthan rode on Deepak Chahar's half-century, after being reduced to 50 for 5, to get to a competitive total. Chahar made 53 off 42 balls, slamming seven sixes to help his team post 133 for 7. In reply, Delhi collapsed around Rishabh Pant's 27-ball 50, with Rahul Chahar and Arjit Gupta polishing off the middle order and reducing them to 61 for 6.

A brief resistance between Lalit Singh and Varun Sood kept Delhi's hopes alive but Khaleel Ahmed and Aniket Choudhary struck to dent them further, as Rajasthan held their nerve to win by two runs.

Maharashtra held on for a two-run win against Haryana, but the small margin of victory wasn't enough to book their passage into the semi-finals. Haryana will meet Karnataka in the 2nd semi-final on Friday.

Batting first, Maharashtra made a bright start as their opener Ruturaj Gaikwad razed 27 off 15 balls. Haryana fought back with two quick wickets, but a 77-run stand between Vijay Zol and Rahul Tripathi rebuilt the Maharashtra innings. Tripathi top-scored with a 37-ball 61, as Maharashtra eventually made 167 from their 20 overs.

Haryana were dealt an early blow in their chase as Chaitanya Bishnoi was bowled by Samad Fallah off the very first ball. Harshal Patel (22) and Shivam Rishipal Chauhan (33) then steadied the innings, before a 13-ball 28 from Rahul Tewatia left Haryana needing just 43 from the last 37 balls.

However, Tewatia's run-out in the 14th over swung the advantage Maharashtra's way, as Haryana started to lose wickets at quick intervals. It left the eighth-wicket pair of Amit Mishra and Jayant Yadav requiring 11 from the final over, but they could muster just eight runs.