mumbai, saurashtra play draw
Mumbai: Former champions Mumbai and Saurashtra featured in an exciting draw on Tuesday after both teams squandered chances to win the contest on the fourth and final day of their Elite Group A game. Mumbai, champions on 41 occasions and ahead of the visitors by 46 runs on the first innings, declared their second innings closed in the morning session at 238 for 8, leaving Saurashtra a target of 285 in 72 overs. Saurashtra were sailing along merrily after being 79 for two with the 113-run third wicket stand between Viswarajsinh Jadeja (71 in 129 balls) and Sheldon Jackson (57 in 118 balls) bringing them closer to the target. But after four balls in the final over, the game was called off as a draw with the visitors on 266 for 7, needing 19 more runs to pull off what would have been a come-from- behind win.
Assam beat Goa by 7 runs
Guwahati: Hosts Assam defeated Goa by 7 runs in a pulsating Group C game after having conceded a narrow first innings lead to the visitors. Resuming at their overnight score of 166 for 6, Goa needed 218 for an outright win, but were shot out for 210 at the Barsapara cricket stadium on the final day. Then right-arm medium pacer Arup Das (6-67) trapped number 11 batsman Krishna Das (2) in front of the wicket to hand Assam a memorable win. Meanwhile, at Ranchi, left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem bowled hosts Jharkhand to an 81-run victory over Services with excellent figures of 7 for 62. Jharkhand had conceded the first innings lead and then turned the match around to bag six points and boost their tally to 30 from 7 games. They are in third spot. At Jammu, Odisha defeated Jammu and Kashmir by eight wickets.
Bihar rout Nagaland by 273 runs
Patna: Ashutosh Aman returned with a match haul of 12 wickets to help Bihar secure a thumping 273-run victory over Nagaland in their Plate Group fixture. The left-arm spinner, who claimed seven wickets in the first innings, grabbed 5/49 in the second to finish with a match haul of 12/96, as Nagaland folded for 173 in their tall pursuit of 446. This was the former Services cricketer's fourth successive 10-wicket haul. Aman, who was adjudged Man-of-the-Match for the third time from four matches, is now the leading wicket-taker with 51 scalps from 10 innings with an astounding average of 5.54. At Raipur, hosts Chhattisgarh took three points, courtesy the first innings lead. But the hosts survived a scare with Maharashtra taking as many as six wickets in their second innings.
TN out of knock-out phase
Dharamsala: Tamil Nadu suffered a nine-wicket defeat against Himachal Pradesh in a Elite Group 'B' match as it crashed out of contention for the knock-out phase. The victory, third of the season, took Himachal's tally so far to 22 points while the visitors remained with just 12 points from seven games — four draws and two defeats and sole win, failing to qualify for the knock-out phase. The home team rattled up 111 for 1 to seal the win after Tamil Nadu folded up for 345 in the second innings following a middle-order collapse after centuries by Abhinav Mukund (128) and captain Baba Indrajith (106). Guleria (3 for 56) and Rishi Dhawan (3 for 60) were the best bowlers for Himachal. In other games in the group, Andhra had to settle for three points against Bengal at Visakhapatnam while visitors Punjab could not reach its target against Hyderabad despite an attacking ton by the young Shubman Gill (148, 154 balls 16X4, 2X6).