Veteran Dinesh Karthik was back at his vintage best to smash a quickfire half-century as Tamil Nadu overcame a jittery start to down Baroda by 38 runs in a low-scoring group E match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy domestic one-dayers, in Mumbai on Wednesday. Put in, Tamil Nadu were reeling at 52/5 when the skipper dig in with all his experience to rescue the team with a 51-ball 68 featuring nine fours and two sixes for his 40th List A fifty.
Tamil Nadu were soon reduced to 52/6, but Karthik held fort and put together a 75-run partnership with Shahrukh Khan (31; 39b) to help them go past 150.
Lukman Meriwala (4/21 from 7 overs) and Ninad Rathva (3/23 from 7.3 overs) were the pick of the bowlers for Baroda as Tamil Nadu's innings lasted just 33.3 overs.
In reply, Baroda were shot out for 124 in 23.3 overs with T Natarajan leading the charge in his 7-1-38-4, while spin twins Varun Chakravarthy and R Sai Kishore sharing five wickets between them.
Padikkal on song
Karnataka batter Devdutt Padikkal continued with his silken touch in the format, scoring a 57-ball 93 not out to steer them to a seven-wicket win over Bihar in a group C contest at Ahmedabad.
Batting at No 4, Padikkal hit nine boundaries and five sixes as Karnataka made short work of Bihar, chasing down the 218-target in just 33.4 overs.
This was the India A batter's fourth fifty-plus score in as many matches and he also has a century to his name to be the leading rungetter of the meet.
Openers Mayank Agarwal (28) and Ravikumar Samarth (4) got out cheaply but Padikkal and Nikin Jose (69) effortlessly took their team over the line.
Jagadeesha Suchith was the pick of their bowling as he returned with a tidy 10-2-27-3 as Bihar were restricted to 217/7 after Karnataka skipper Agarwal opted to bowl.
Sakibul Gani waged a lone battle for Bihar with a 100-ball 113 not out as wickets kept on falling around him.
Shashank slams 152, grabs five-for
Shashank Singh produced a spectacular all-round effort —152 (113b) and 5/20 in five overs — as Chhattisgarh thrashed Manipur by 88 runs in a group B match at Jaipur.
Chhattisgarh lost their top three for only 16 inside nine overs after Manipur chose to bowl, but thereafter it was all about their No 5 batter Shashank who smashed 12 fours and seven sixes in his counter-attacking knock.
Skipper Amandeep Khare (88) also provided a fine support as the duo consolidated after the anxious start.
After the pair's departure, Ajay Mandal (43 not out; 20b) propped them to an imposing 342/6.
Shashank returned to shine with the ball, grabbing a five-wicket haul as Manipur managed 254/9.
Samson flops again but Kerala win
Sanju Samson failed with the bat yet again as he was dismissed for a five-ball one, but Kerala had it easy in defeating Tripura by 119 runs in a group A clash at Alur.
Wicketkeeper-batter Mohammed Azharuddeen top-scored for Kerala with a 61-ball 58 as he, along with Rohan Kunnummal (44; 70b), gave Kerala a strong start with a 95-run opening alliance.
But Kerala suffered a middle-order collapse to be bowled out for 231 in 47.1 overs. In reply, Tripura folded for 112. Akhin Sathar, Akhil Scaria and Vaisakh Chandran took eight wickets between them.
J&K stun Delhi
Jammu and Kashmir's new ball bowler Rasikh Salam (4/23) dismantled Delhi's top order to complement opener Shubham Khajuria's splendid 109 as they stunned Delhi by 75 runs in another group C clash at Ahmedabad.
Put in, J&K rode on their skipper's century to post 299/7. In reply, Delhi were bundled out for 224 in 45.3 overs. Lalit Yadav was Delhi's top-scorer (67) but none of their other batters could provide any resistance.
Brief Scores Group A: Odisha 99; 29.1 overs (Sandeep Pattnaik 42; Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 5/16) lost to Saurashtra 102/6; 24.4 overs (Arpit Vasavada 20 not out; Rajesh Mohanty 3/48, Debabrata Pradhan 3/34) by four wickets.
Kerala 231; 47.1 overs (Mohammed Azharuddeen 58, Rohan Kunnummal 44, Shreyas Gopal 41; Bikramjit Debnath 3/41) b Tripura 112; 27.5 overs (Rajat Dey 46; Akhin Sathar 3/27, Akhil Scaria 3/11) by 119 runs.
Puducherry 67; 24.4 overs b Delhi 224; 45.3 overs (Lalit Yadav 67, Yash Dhull 49; Rasikh Salam 4/23) by 75 runs.
Chandigarh 305/8; 50 overs (Bhagmender Lather 66, Ankit Kaushik 60, Arslan Khan 54, Manan Vohra 50; Agrim Tiwari 4/71) lost to Uttarakhand 309/4; 47.4 overs (Aditya Tare 79 not out, Dikshanshu Negi 64, Avneesh Sudha 60, Yuvraj Chaudhary 58) by six wickets.
Group D: Assam 121; 33.3 overs (Rishav Das 32; Rishi Dhawan 4/30, Mayank Dagar 4/20) lost to Himachal Pradesh 122/2; 16.3 overs (Sumeet Verma 51 not out, Ekant Sen 42) by eight wickets.
Uttar Pradesh 232/8; 50 overs (Dhruv Jurel 77, Saurabh Kumar 43; Chintan Gaja 4/27, Jayveer Parmar 3/40) lost to Gujarat 235/5; 37.4 overs (Urvil Patel 86, Kshitij Patel 83 not out; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/47) by five wickets.
Rajasthan 290; 50 overs (Abhijeet Tomar 124, Ram Chouhan 52; Pinninti Tapaswi 4/47) b Andhra 252; 47.4 overs (Ashwin Hebbar 68, Hanuma Vihari 60; Aniket Choudhary 4/49, Manav Suthar 3/46, Rahul Chahar 3/43) by 38 runs.
Punjab 289; 49.3 overs (Ramandeep Singh 80, Sanvir Singh 74; Lakshay Garg 4/47) b Goa 222; 47.5 overs (Krishnamurthy Siddharth 70; Mayank Markande 3/41) by 67 runs.
Group E: Tamil Nadu 162; 33.3 overs (Dinesh Karthik 68; Lukman Meriwala 4/21) b Baroda 124; 23.3 overs (Vishnu Solanki 25; T Natarajan 4/38, Varun Chakravarthy 3/17) by 38 runs.
Bengal 254/8; 50 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 73; Kumar Kartikeya 4/34) lost to Madhya Pradesh 61; 20.4 overs (Shubham Sharma 14; Shahbaz Ahmed 4/7, Akash Deep 3/8) by 193 runs.