Opener Amit Gautam scored an unbeaten knock of 149 runs as Rajasthan pulled off a six-wicket win over Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy Group'C' League match in Chennai on Friday. Gautam did the star turn for Rajasthan after their rival had posted 268 for 8 riding on Siddhesh Lad's second century in the tournament.
The Rajasthan's opener knock was embellished with 16 boundaries and four sixes.
For Mumbai, Lad, who stroked an exact 100 (8x4, 4x6) and Prithvi Shaw 52 (7x4), were the main scorers.
Rajasthan's Syed Khaleel Ahmed bottled things up bagging four wickets for 35 runs in the match played at TI Murugappa cricket ground.
In another match, a blistering 158 off 111 balls by Rajat Patidar powered Madhya Pradesh to a comprehensive eight-wicket win over defending champion Tamil Nadu.
The home side's third straight loss effectively ended their hopes in the tournament.
Faced with a rather daunting target of 303, Madhya Pradesh went on the attack from the start as openers Patidar and Naman Ojha unleashed an array of shots.
Patidar and Ojha added 65 runs before the latter fell to Aswin Crist for 39 (5X4, 1X6).
This brought together Patidar and Rameez Khan, who took the game away from the host with a massive 209-run partnership in 243 balls.
Patidar was in control right through his knock and hit 20 fours and four sixes as he peppered the Pachaiyappa's College ground with shots all round the wicket.
India Test star Ravichandran Ashwin, who has bowled with control throughout the tournament and tried his hand at leg-spin too, could not do anything to break the partnership or stem the flow of runs.
He finished with figures of none for 64 in 10 overs.
Tamil Nadu captain Vijay Shankar tried seven bowlers but the MP batsmen played confidently to coast to victory with four overs remaining.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu recovered after losing Ganga Sridhar Raju (0) in the third over and Kaushik Gandhi (7) in the seventh over with wicketkeeper-batsman N Jagadeesan (99) stringing together a 107-run stand in 120 balls with B Aparajith (43).
Jagadeesan was unlucky to miss his ton as he fell caught behind (by Ojha) to Puneet Dubey.
Vijay Shankar was his usual aggressive self and ran hard between the wickets and compiled a stylish 84 (62 balls, 7 fours, two sixes) but his exit triggered a collapse.
The team slid from 284 for 5 to end at 302 for 8 with the last five overs yielding just 20 runs.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh posted a narrow one-wicket win over Goa at the M A Chidambaram stadium to draw level on 12 points with Mumbai.
In Hyderabad, Akash Bhandari came up with a breezy 29-ball 41 to steer the hosts to a four-wicket win over Saurashtra.
Opener Akshath Reddy laid the foundation of their challenging 278-run chase but missed the triple figure mark by six runs as the home side was reduced to 216/5, needing 62 off 53 balls.
Ambati Rayudu (76) and Bhandari revived their chase in a 43-run partnership from 37 balls but the duo could not take them over the line, with the former getting out in the 48th over.
Number 7 Bhandari, however, remained calm under pressure to anchor the chase with three balls to spare as a star- studded Saurashtra suffered their second successive defeat to be on four points after three matches in the seven-team group D table.
Hyderabad have 12 points from four matches as they returned to winning ways after their reversal against group D leaders Vidarbha who put one foot in the quarterfinals with their fourth win on the trot.
Saurashtra's star players -- Robin Uthappa (14), Cheteshwar Pujara (10) and Ravindra Jadeja (7) -- once again failed to get going after they opted to bat
It was opener Samarth Vyas who kept it going at one end with a fighting 57 before being cleaned up by the legspinner Bhandari, while lower down the order Prerak Mankad (62) and Arpit Vasavada (49) came up with significant contributions to post a fighting total.
Jadeja was tidy in his bowling conceding 39 from his full quota but returned wicketless, while leftarm pacer Jaydev Unadkat gave away 59 runs from his 10 overs.
Ranji champions Vidarbha overcame a jittery start to prevail over Services by 17 runs at the Gymkhana Ground in Secunderabad, consolidating their lead with 16 points from four matches.
Half of Vidarbha's side were dismissed for 50 runs inside 14 overs with Raushan Raj (3/49) ripping through their top- order.
Karn Sharma came up with a splendid allround effort (54 and 2/50) while Apoorv Wankhade (73) and Akshay Karnewar (45) also made valuable contributions to lift them to a fighting 267/9.
Services' No 9 batsman Diwesh Pathania stood tall amid the ruins with a valiant 100 not out from 77 balls, but his effort went in vain as they suffered a fourth defeat in row.
(With PTI inputs)
