A summary of the day's play in the Vijay Hazare One-day tournament.
India's ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni failed with the bat on his return to domestic cricket, in the Vijay Hazare Trophy One-Day match, but his team Jharkhand were able to register a narrow nine-run victory against Jammu and Kashmir, in Bangalore, on Thursday.
Playing for Jharkhand, Dhoni, who figured in his first domestic match in eight years, scored just nine before he was brilliantly caught in the slips by former India spinner Parvez Rasool off left-arm spinner Waseem Raza's bowling, in the 28th over of the innings.
After being put in to bat, Jharkhand struggled with the bat and were bowled out for 210 in 50 overs, courtesy half-centuries from Ishank Jaggi (54) and Kaushal Singh (53).
In reply, J&K finished on 201 for seven in their 50 overs despite half-centuries from Rasool (63) and Shubham Khajuria (60), who put on 104 runs for the third wicket. Rasool's dismissal in the 36th over saw Jharkhand make a comeback, led by left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem, who claimed three for 28 in nine overs.
Brief Scores:
Jharkhand 210 all out in 50 overs (I Jaggi 54, Kaushal Singh 53, Waseem Raza 3-31) vs J&K 201-7 in 50 overs (P Rasool 63, S Khajuria 60, S Nadeem 3-38)
Yuvraj punishes Mumbai's bowlers
It turned out to be a good outing for India discard Yuvraj Singh, who slammed a quickfire 93, but his team Punjab were outclassed by Mumbai by five wickets at the Gymkhana Ground, in Hyderabad.
Punjab were struggling at 54 for three in the 13th over before Yuvraj rescued them with a superb half-century, which was laced with six sixes and as many fours. He put on 97 runs for the fourth-wicket with Mandeep Singh, who scored 41.
Pacers Dhawal Kulkarni and Sagar Trivedi claimed three wickets as Mumbai bowled out Punjab for 254 in 48.1 overs.
Opener Jay Bista stroked a quickfire 92 from 87 balls, having hit 12 fours and a six, while Abhishek Nayar hit 44 not out to steer Mumbai to a comfortable victory with 29 balls to spare.
Brief Scores:
Punjab 254 all out in 48.1 overs (Yuvraj Singh 93, Mandeep Singh 41, D Kulkarni 3-41, S Trivedi 3-21) vs Mumbai 255-5 in 45.1 overs (J Bista 92, A Nayar 44 not out, S Kaul 3-58)
Gambhir, Dhawan struggle with the bat
Star players Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan failed to make an impression with the bat, but Delhi managed to get past Baroda by 31 runs, at the Feroz Shah Kotla, in New Delhi.
Dhawan, who struggled for runs during the recently-concluded Test series against South Africa, scored 25 before he was trapped leg before wicket by former India pacer Irfan Pathan, in the ninth over of the innings.
Delhi captain Gambhir was also dismissed in the same fashion, by Hardik Pandya, for 17.
Nitish Rana rallied the hosts with a good innings of 62, while Pawan Negi stroked 47 late down the order to guide Delhi to 208 for seven after they were asked to bat first by Baroda.
Both the Pathan brothers, Yusuf and Irfan, failed with the bat as Baroda never got going in the run chase and except for Deepak Hooda's 50, no other batsman made a sizeable contribution before they were bowled out for 177 in 46.5 overs.
Medium pacer Suboth Bhati registered excellent figures of four for 17 in 6.5 overs but Ishant Sharma went wicketless.
Brief scores:
Delhi 208 for 7 in 50 overs (N Rana 62, R Arothe 2-30) vs Baroda 177 all out in 46.5 overs (D Hooda 50, S Bhati 4-17)
Karnataka's woes continue
Defending champions Karnataka's struggles continued as they went down to Railways in a thrilling contest, in Bangalore.
Railways registered a narrow one-wicket victory off the last delivery of the match. They made 232 for nine in their 50 overs in reply to Karnataka's 228 for nine.
India's Test players, KL Rahul (27) and Stuart Binny (18) failed to make an impact with the bat as the hosts were struggling on 137 for five in the 34th over before captain R Vinay Kumar smashed 50 from 48 balls and Abhimanyu Mithun hit a quickfire 28 from 18 balls to lift the score to 228 for nine in their 50 overs.
Karnataka have had a below-par season so far and were knocked out in the group stages of the Ranji Trophy.
Opener Asadulla Khan stroked a quickfire 45-ball 50 to give Railways a fiery start but a few quick wickets in the middle saw the visitors slip to 112 for five, in the 28th over.
Karn Sharma, who took two for 55 with the ball, played a crucial hand with the bat as he hit 51 from 64 balls, while Mahesh Rawat scored 50 with the duo putting on 78 runs for the sixth wicket to put Railways back on track.
Akshat Pandey hit the winning runs for Railways as he ended up hitting a full toss from Sreenath Arvind between the slips for a four off the final delivery of the match.
Vinay Kumar followed up his half-century with the bat with a good showing with the ball as he claimed four for 45 in his 10 overs.
Ashwin continues good form
Ravichandran Ashwin continued his good form with the ball, claiming three for 31, to help Tamil Nadu crush Assam by six wickets in Hyderabad.
Syed Mohammed was the only batsman from Assam to get past the 30-run mark, scoring 59, but the rest of the batsmen struggled against Ashwin & Co.
In reply, Abhinav Mukund hit a breezy 104 from as many deliveries, while Test opener Murali Vijay could score only 25 as TN cruised to 214 for four in 41.5 overs to register a comfortable victory.
Manoj, Shreevats shine as Bengal breeze past Goa
Captain Manoj Tiwary blasted his way to a quickfire 48-ball 62 while opener Shreevats Goswami hit 70 as Bengal comfortably beat Goa by six wickets in Rajkot.
Put into bat, Goa managed 235 for nine in their 50 overs with Saurabh Bandekar (62), Reagan Pinto (55) and Sagiun Kamat (55) making useful contributions. Veteran speedster Ashok Dinda scalped three for 40.
However, Bengal made short work of the target, knocking off the runs with 52 balls to spare at the at the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground.
The foundation of the Bengal victory was laid by Sayan Sekhar Mondal (54) and Goswami. They added 116 runs for the opening stand. Sayan dropped anchor facing 76 balls, hiting five boundaries, while Goswami was the more attacking of the two hitting 11 fours in 77 balls.
But it was the Bengal captain, who took the game away with eight boundaries and two sixes.
Brief scores:
Goa 235 for nine in 50 overs (Saurabh Bandekar 62, Reagan Pinto 55, Sagun Kamat 55, Ashok Dinda 3/40) vs Bengal 238/4 in 41.2 overs (Manoj Tiwary 62 not out, Sayan Sekhar Mondal 54, Shreevats Goswami 70).
