Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Cheteshwar Pujara, Saurabh Tiwary Shine in Saurashtra, Jharkhand Victories

Cheteshwar Pujara slammed his highest T20 cricket score, a 55-ball 81, as Saurashtra thrashed Jammu and Kashmir by 73 runs in a Group B cricket match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Monday. (Click here for latest Cricket stories)

Opener Pujara struck five fours and as many sixes during his scintillating knock which took Saurashtra to 157 for 7 in their allotted 20 overs after they were sent into bat at the Nehru Stadium here.

The highlight of the Saurashtra innings was the 70-run stand between Pujara and Chirag Jani (38) for the fourth wicket which the duo made in 6.1 overs.

For J&K, Mohammed Mudhasir, Parvez Rasool and Waseem Raza took two wickets apiece while Zahoor Sofi got one.

Chasing 158 for a win, J&K suffered a batting collapse as they were skittled out for just 84 in 17.1 overs.

Saurabh Tiwary powers Jharkhand past Rajasthan

A superb four-wicket haul by young left-arm seamer Vikas Singh and a blistering unbeaten fifty from Saurabh Tiwary powered Jharkhand to an eight-wicket win over Rajasthan in a Group B T20 match.

In a thrilling match that went down to the wire, Jharkhand first restricted Rajasthan to 120 for nine in their stipulated 20 overs, courtesy some fine bowling by 21-year-old Vikash. He was supported well by Monu Kumar (1/25), PN Seet (1/17) and Kaushal Singh (1/6).

Jharkhand then returned to overhaul the target only in the second last ball of their innings with Tiwary smashing an unbeaten 43-ball 61, studded with one four and three sixes, and Sumit Kumar scoring 38 in 50 balls with two fours.

UP down Karnataka, notch up third straight win

Uttar Pradesh top-order made it count as they outplayed Karnataka by five wickets in the Group D Twenty20 cricket match to notch up their third straight win in the tournament.

Chasing 161 for a win at the DRIEMS Ground, Tangi, table-toppers UP rode on opener Prashant Gupta's quick-fire 48 to achieve the target in 19.1 overs.

Gupta's 55-run opening stand with Samarth Singh (22) set up the 8 run per-over chase, while Suresh Raina (28) and skipper Eklavya Dwivedi (29 not out) also made key contributions to make the challenging target look easy.

Railways beat Andhra by 7 runs

Medium pacer Ranjit Mali returned with impressive figures of four for 26 to help Railways beat Andhra by seven runs in a low-scoring Group C match.

Mumbai thrash Services by 8 wickets

Skipper Aditya Tare's unbeaten 42-ball 49 added to a good bowling effort as Mumbai thrashed a hapless Services side by eight wickets in a Group D tie.

Chasing a modest 128 for a win at the Barabati stadium, Mumbai rode a third-wicket 50-run unbeaten stand between tare and Siddhesh Lad (20 not out) to achieve the target with 11 balls to spare.

Sanju Samson fifty helps Kerala maul Tripura by 8 wickets

Young pacer Basil Thampi returned with a four-wicket haul before Sanju Samson blasted an unbeaten half-century as Kerala notched up a eight-wicket win over Tripura in a Group B encounter.

Electing to field, Kerala rode on Thampi who dismissed SM Singha (6), BB Roy (1), SS Majumder (16) and NN Sen (0) to shot out Tripura for 111 in 19.5 overs.

They then returned to overhaul the target, scoring 113 for two with 3.5 overs to spare, courtesy a 96-run second-wicket stand between Samson and PR Prem (40).

Vidarbha beat Haryana

Himanshu Joshi led an impressive batting display with an unbeaten 61 as Vidarbha thumped Haryana by eight wickets.

Chasing 137 for a win, Vidarbha produced a solid batting display to overhaul the target with three balls to spare at the VCA Stadium at Jamtha.

Delhi record hat-trick of victories, beat MP by 4 wickets

Veteran captain Gautam Gambhir managed to find some form as Delhi recorded their third straight win, beating Madhya Pradesh by four wickets in a Group C encounter.

Batting first, MP scored 156 for six with skipper Naman Ojha scoring 48 off 42 balls. His innings was studded with four boundaries and two sixes. Pradeep Sangwan with 3/22 was the best bowler for Delhi.

In reply, Delhi reached the target with two balls to spare as they now have 12 points from three games. Another win will put them firmly in sight of a quarter-final berth.

Parthiv leads Gujarat to 3-wicket win over Hyderabad

Skipper Parthiv Patel led from the front with a blistering 40-ball 70 as Gujarat defeated Hyderabad by three wickets.

In the Group A match, Hyderabad were restricted to 131 for seven in the stipulated 20 overs after choosing to bat at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground.

In reply, Gujarat chased down the target with three balls to spare, reaching 134 for seven in 19.3 overs.

Brilliant Dinda guides Bengal to a 2-run victory

Stand-in captain Ashok Dinda bowled a brilliant 19th over as Bengal pipped Himachal Pradesh by 2 runs in a group A encounter.

Batting first, Bengal posted 154 for six in 20 overs with Pramod Chandila smashing 70 off 39 balls that included nine boundaries and two sixes. Sudip Chatterjee contributed 42 off 39 balls.

In reply, Bengal bowlers led by Dinda managed to restrict Himachal to 152 for three after 20 overs. Dinda had figures of 4-0-8-0 to show for his efforts.

Assam beat Goa by four wickets

Assam recorded a four-wicket win over Goa after Pallvkumar Das top-scored with a brisk 44 off 29 balls in the national T20 championship.