Group A
In a low-scoring game at Alur, Vishvaraj Jadeja stood tall with a fighting 98 in Saurashtra’s 185 before Kerala chased it down with just 14 balls left. Sanju Samson made 30 in the chase but it was Abdul Basith’s 60 that was instrumental in the chase. Led by Tushar Deshpande’s three-fer, Mumbai’s bowlers ran riot against Sikkim to bowl them out for just 89. The target was then chased down in just 12 overs.
Fabid Ahmed’s allround efforts were instrumental in Puducherry prevailing over Railways in a low-scoring game. Fabid’s 64 dragged Puducherry to 172 after the top six succumbed without a fight and in the reply, he picked two wickets as Railways fell short by 22. Odisha veteran Biplab Samantray’s five-fer was the highlight of Odisha’s win over Tripura.
Group B
Virat Singh’s terrific 143 (116) and half-centuries from Vikash Vishal, Saurabh Tiwary and Kumar Kushagra were instrumental in Jharkhand chasing down 356 in stunning fashion against Maharashtra. Ankit Bawne’s 107 saw Maharashtra post 355 but it wasn’t enough on the day. Led by skipper Gahlaut Rahul Singh’s blistering 70, Hyderabad chased down a target of 204 against Manipur inside 30 overs.
Fifties from the top 4 helped Services post 300 on the board, a total they defended with ease in the end to prevail by 40 runs. Karun Nair’s fighting half-century made a massive difference as Vidarbha’s 243/9 was more than enough to brush Meghalaya aside.
Group C
Yuzvendra Chahal, who was not considered for the T20I series against Australia, made a strong impression by picking up a six-wicket haul in Haryana’s easy win over Uttarakhand. Mizoram were blown away by Chandigarh who put up 364 on the board following twin tons. In reply, Mizoram caved in without a fight to lose by 215 runs.
Mayank Agarwal’s majestic 157, R Samarth’s 123 and Devdutt Padikkal’s quickfire unbeaten 71 helped Karnataka breach 400 against Jammu and Kashmir. Vijaykumar Vyshak then picked four wickets as J&K were bundled out for just 180. Ishant Sharma, Suyash Sharma and Harshit Rana combined to pick all 10 wickets as Bihar were bowled out for just 149 against Delhi. The chase was then completed with ease in just 22.1 overs.
Group D
Hanuma Vihari failed to make an impression at the top of the order for Andhra as his side put in a poor performance to lose their opening game against Himachal Pradesh by 7 wickets. Saurav Chahan’s blistering 108 and Chirag Gandhi’s rapid 74 helped Gujarat defeat Assam by 36 runs in a high-scoring clash. Veteran legspinner Piyush Chawla picked three wickets for Gujarat.
A stunning rearguard action from Deepak Hooda and Deepak Chahar helped Rajasthan pick up a memorable win over Arunachal Pradesh. Rajasthan’s top four combined to make just 30 but from 89/5, they recovered to post a humongous 347/8 following Hooda’s ton and Deepak Chahar’s 66. In reply, Arunachal Pradesh didn’t even put up a fight as Rahul Chahar’s five-fer saw them crumble for 186.
Group E
A ruthless performance with both ball and bat saw Bengal crush Nagaland by nine wickets to begin their campaign in style. Rahul Tripathi’s 92 went in vain as Madhya Pradesh chased down 273 with over ten overs to spare. While Rajat Patidar hit a fifty, Himanshu Mantri slammed an unbeaten 127. In a low-scoring thriller, Punjab fell agonisingly short of Baroda’s 214/9 to lose by just three runs. Punjab were down and out in the chase at 146/8 before Siddarth Kaul almost pulled off a heist with a fighting 47. But he couldn’t get the job done and was bowled when his side needed four more runs for a memorable win.
