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ScorecardThe final day of the second unofficial Test was abandoned without a ball being bowled, due to rain. The match was headed towards a draw at the end of the third day, with West Indies A ahead by 105 with seven second-innings wickets in hand. West Indies took the two-match series 1-0 after winning the first Test by 114 runs in Dhaka. They reached the final of the tri-series but went down by five runs to South Africa A in a high-scoring contest.

Match facts

Sunday, April 25
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)The biggest question on the eve of the final: Will Sachin Tendulkar play or not?•Indian Premier League

Big Picture

Pitches have tired, outfields have grown barer during an unforgiving Indian summer, but for 45 days the players have braved sapping conditions, excruciating travel (made more excruciating by security concerns), IPL parties, inane interviews and columns, explosions outside the stadium just before a match, injuries, cramps, fines and reprimands to keep this league rolling. On the way some of them have played in the breathtaking environs of Dharamsala, many of them have put in special performances, some of them have announced themselves, some have shown aspects of their game others didn’t know existed, some have found second winds. Two teams, though, have one final issue to settle before we move onto more pressing matters like the World Twenty20 and ascertaining how clean the IPL is.
The image of the third IPL, though, will remain MS Dhoni upper-cutting himself in the jaw like a pumped-up boxer, upon having hit a match-winning six from Dharamsala into McLeodganj. Nobody has seen Dhoni react so emotionally on a cricket field, and Dhoni has quite a body of work behind him to draw that cool, composed image from. And about a fortnight ago, when Dhoni’s team was asphyxiating a Mumbai Indians chase in the merciless Chennai humidity, Sachin Tendulkar, short on fluids, retired hurt, saw what resembled a choke and came back to try and win what was then just another match for Mumbai, with their semi-final place not under much doubt. Both men, one perhaps India’s greatest cricketer, one who has the makings of India’s greatest captain, represent how much this means to their teams.

Form guide (most recent first)

Mumbai WLWWW
Chennai WWLWL

Team talk

There’s no decision yet on whether the injured Tendulkar will play, but if he can hold the bat, expect him to open for Mumbai. “It’s his call,” was all their coach, Robin Singh, could offer. “If he is not available, we have our back-up plans.” Kieron Pollard is fit. Mumbai will be tempted to think about Ali Murtaza ahead of Abhishek Nayar because of the nature of the pitch. In that light, JP Duminy weighs over Dwayne Bravo.Mumbai (probable) 1 Sachin Tendulkar (capt.), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Saurabh Tiwary, 4 Ambati Rayudu (wk), 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 JP Duminy, 7 Ali Murtaza/Abhishek Nayar, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Dilhara Fernando, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Lasith MalingaOn a turning pitch, Chennai have no reason to divert from the three-spinner attack.Chennai (probable) 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 M Vijay, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), 5 S Badrinath, 6 Albie Morkel, 7 S Anirudha, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Doug Bollinger, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Shadab Jakati

Previously…

Mumbai 3 Chennai 3
On a flat pitch at the Brabourne Stadium, Chennai failed to defend 180, but on a more difficult Chennai pitch, they defended 165 with aplomb.

In the spotlight

Law of averages says Matthew Hayden is due a single-handed match-winning blast. In an illustrious career, a Man-of-the-Match performance in a big tournament final is missing. In 12 innings since his Mongoose-charged 93, Hayden’s top score has been 35, and his strike-rate has been 117.2. Neither Chennai nor Hayden expects this, and he will want to set things right.Dhoni v Tendulkar Twenty20 games, if not won by a single-handed blasts, usually come down to captains, finals more so than others. These two captains also happen to be important batsmen of their line-ups. If Tendulkar has been remarkably consistent, setting up matches, Dhoni has been mercurial, retrieving lost matches. That holds true for their captaincy too.Lasith Malinga and Zaheer Khan have been the understated stars of Mumbai’s campaign. Of all teams of the IPL, you don’t want to be needing 10 an over against Mumbai: these guys are mean, accurate and wily. It will be interesting to see how Dhoni, Hayden and Co. go against these yorker machines. They do tend to make a bit of a mockery of spinning tracks.

Prime numbers and trivia

• Suresh Raina, with 1318 runs to his name, has overtaken Adam Gilchrist as the leading scorer in all IPL matches. Tendulkar is fifth with 1122 runs.
• Raina also holds the record for most catches, 26, for a non-wicketkeeper.

Chatter

“We have been doing well with our fast bowlers, so how does it concern me?”

“It gives us a slight edge that Mumbai have never been in a final before, and we have.”

Sourav Ganguly has put down Kolkata Knight Riders’ comprehensive defeat against Chennai Super Kings to poor bowling at the death and the loss of early wickets in the chase. Kolkata, playing at home, were in a strong position after taking three wickets – Matthew Hayden, M Vijay and Suresh Raina – in the first 10 overs. But MS Dhoni and S Badrinath retaliated with an unbeaten 109-run stand to push their team to 164, which their bowlers defended with ease.”We were not up to the mark in last five overs, gave away 60-odd runs. Then we kept losing wickets in run chase. We have to address that. Last four-five overs (of the Chennai innings) took the game away from us,” Ganguly said after his team’s first defeat in the tournament.Dhoni and Badrinath began their surge in the 15th over, when Angelo Mathews was struck for a boundary over short fine leg and a massive six over long-on. The last six overs of the Chennai innings yielded 83. “We’ll talk about our death bowling, but you have to give credit to Dhoni for the shots he played,” Ganguly said.When asked if Kolkata missed a fifth bowler, he said: “We have five bowlers with Brad Hodge and Laxmi Ratan Shukla. Probably we could have bowled Hodge a few more overs.”The Kolkata reply, too, was lacklustre. They lost their two star batsmen from the previous game, Brad Hodge and Manoj Tiwary, within the two overs, and their middle order, including Ganguly, offered little resistance as Kolkata were shot out for 109. “We played too many shots up the order and kept losing wickets. Hopefully, we’ll learn from this and come back a better team,” Ganguly said.Dhoni, despite the thumping win, expected more from his bowlers in the games to follow. “We were worried about our bowling both with the new ball and at the death,” he said. “I still think a couple of our bowlers were a little short with their length and on a slow track like this you can be punished. It’s an area which needs improvement, but it feels good to have a victory under the belt.”The slowish nature of the track, Dhoni said, ensured a score of above 150 was going to be difficult to chase. “You are always under pressure in this format of the game, but we always felt a total of 150 would be a good score on this wicket because it was on the slower side.”

Michael Carberry and James Tredwell are set to make their Test debuts at Chittagong on Friday, and there could yet be a third new cap in the Middlesex seamer, Steven Finn, after England’s captain, Alastair Cook, hinted that his first match in charge would involve a twin spin attack and a full complement of six specialist batsmen.At the conclusion of England’s three-day warm-up against Bangladesh A on Tuesday, England had appeared to be leaning towards a five-bowler option, with Finn the quiet front-runner to join Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad, if he regains fitness, in a three-prong pace attack. However, concerns about the form of Kevin Pietersen, coupled with a genuine respect for the quality of Bangladesh’s spin bowlers, looks to have convinced the selectors to take the safety-first option.Bangladesh’s captain, Shakib Al Hasan, is expected to link up with his fellow left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak, as well as the offspinning allrounder Mahmudullah, in a slow-bowling attack that has the potential to keep England’s batsmen under wraps, as they demonstrated in the second ODI at Mirpur last week, when it required a performance of rare quality from Eoin Morgan to guide England to a nerve-racking two-wicket win.”In their home conditions, Bangladesh are a very competitive side and that second one-dayer went very close to the wire,” said Cook. “Their spinners will be a huge threat, and for us to take them lightly would be a cardinal sin. We all know about the sub-continent and the need to play spin well for a long period of time, because games can tend to take a lot of time to get going and then change very quickly in a short time. The playing of spin is a huge issue and the England side over the last four years has made a huge effort to improve.”The expectation that spin will be the dominant feature of the Test may well have encouraged England to believe that three seamers will be surplus to requirements, especially given the success that the uncapped Tredwell enjoyed against Bangladesh A this week, claiming eight wickets in the match, five of which came in an unbroken 27-over spell in the first innings. What is more, they have in Graeme Swann one of the form bowlers in the world game – a man at No. 5 in the ICC rankings, and fresh from a Man-of-the-Series performance in South Africa.”Obviously spin will play a huge part so they’ll obviously bowl the bulk of the overs,” said Cook, although he did backtrack slightly on that assertion. “There’s a high possibility we’ll play two spinners, but we have not ruled out playing three seamers either. The key is also to reverse-swing the ball which we obviously have done well over the last year. Hopefully we can bowl well with it because in these conditions, if we don’t get the ball moving, it becomes a lot easier. We’ll need to look at the pitch, because we’ve got to make sure over the next 24 hours we get the balance of our side right.”If England do choose to go in with four bowlers, then the indefatigable Bresnan is sure to be one of the seam-bowling options, having impressed with his stamina and improved accuracy since being elevated to the full Test squad. The management would dearly love the other man to be Broad, who looked to be getting back to his best following last week’s back spasm as he cranked up his pace for ten overs in the nets, albeit while wearing a back brace. But with Graham Onions officially ruled out of selection, the final decision on Broad will be taken as late as possible.”It’s definitely not ideal that Broad has not bowled [competitively],” said Cook. “With a back spasm it could come back very quickly, so today’s a massive day with his fitness. I think he bowled nine overs yesterday and two heavy spells today so we’ll see how he does. That’s another one of the selection issues we’ll need to play by ear and we’ll see how he is tomorrow morning.”If Broad fails to come through his fitness test, then the temptation could well be to go with Finn, even though he has been in the country for less than a week. He picked up three wickets in 18 overs during the warm-up match and impressed all onlookers with his pace, bounce and accuracy.”Steven flew in the day before and then played,” said Cook. “I was very impressed by him. I’ve seen him a lot for Middlesex when I was playing for Essex so knew what he could do. But I was very impressed by how he reacted to the conditions which are different to the English pitches. He adapted very quickly and that’s the hallmark of an internationalcricketer. He has a huge future.”Whether Cook opens on Friday alongside Jonathan Trott or, as now expected, Carberry, he is unfazed at the prospect of being the senior partner, and seeing as he batted impressively in the one-dayers with two fifties and a thirty in three innings, he has plenty reason to be confident. “It makes my job different, but we all know batting,” he said. “It can be a very individual game as well. However you bat you try and build a partnership, but that can change anyway if you lose a wicket at the other end. It’s always down to the individual as a batter to make sure that he takes on that responsibility himself.”One way or another, the permutations have given Cook plenty to ponder as he prepares to become the 79th player to captain England in a Test match. “I will be nervous but also proud that not many people have done what I’m about to do,” he said. “Hopefully I can do a good job. I’m genuinely excited but feel a bit more settled now, though for me it’s a huge challenge as captain. We’ve come here to win both one-dayers and Tests and we’ve done the first job very well. We’ve got the second part now and I know the lads want to come back here and win the Tests.””Andy [Flower]’s been exceptional alongside me,” Cook added. “He’s taken a lot on and he’s trying to take a lot of pressure off me as a captain as he can. He’s tried to keep me away from decisions away from cricket, and he’s been superb like that. But over the next 48 hours we will sit down and chat to get a crucial balance to the side. I’ve enjoyed the extra responsibility and making those decisions alongside Andy Flower. I’ve enjoyed making those decisions and so far we’ve made the right ones.”But if we take Bangladesh lightly we’re going to come unstuck,” he added. “We all know their spinners are excellent bowlers and we’ve seen a guy [Raqibul Hasan] got a hundred here in the three-day game, and in Tamim [Iqbal] they have some very dangerous players. It’s our job as a side not to take them lightly, and play cricket as well as we did in the one-dayers.”

Kamran Akmal, the Pakistan wicketkeeper, has said he is keen to move on and improve as a wicketkeeper following a tough tour of Australia, where he came under great scrutiny. He said it was normal for all players to go through a bad patch once in a while and that the important thing was to learn from each experience.The nadir for Akmal was the second Test at the SCG, dropping Michael Hussey three times off Danish Kaneria on the third day after missing a run-out chance. He also dropped Peter Siddle off Mohammad Sami on the fourth morning. Hussey went on to score an unbeaten 134 and helped stretched Australia’s lead from 80 – at the end of the third day – to 175. Pakistan were the favourites to win on the fourth day but folded for 139 and lost the match by 36 runs and with it the series. Sarfraz Ahmed replaced him for the third Test.”Even the greatest players who have played the game have gone through rough patches in their career. Even the likes of Ricky Ponting have gone through slumps in their form,” Akmal told “The most important thing for me to concentrate on is how I bounce back from this. The Sydney Test match was a horrible experience. There is no point in making excuses over events in Sydney.”All I can do is to work hard on my cricket, learn from the events of Sydney and take on board the advice from colleagues and friends.”Akmal said advice from former wicketkeepers like Ian Healy and Wasim Bari has been forthcoming. He said his Australian counterpart Brad Haddin also spent time with him in Hobart, the venue of the third Test of that series.”Ian Healy has been very helpful to me and given me some excellent technical advice and tips,” Akmal said. “You can’t ignore advice from a wicketkeeper of such experience and pedigree. Brad [Haddin] chatted with me in Hobart about some technical issues and told me to keep my chin up. I’m so appreciative of the advice and time that both Healy and Haddin gave me and I’ll always be grateful to them.”He was also contacted by Bari, the former Pakistan wicketkeeper, who is now an official with the Pakistan Cricket Board. “Wasim Bari phoned me up after the Sydney Test match and we had a good chat. Wasim encouraged me and also told me to keep my spirits up. He is a very experienced wicketkeeper and his advice was also much appreciated.”Pakistan endured a miserable tour, losing all three Tests, five ODIs and the Twenty20. Akmal said that despite the series of defeats, the whole team had learnt plenty by just observing the professional work ethic of their opponents.”It’s tough, cricket in Australia, it’s hard work and you are thoroughly tested in every aspect of your game. The preparation of the Australians and their attention to detail is something that we can all learn from. There are so many things we can take from this tour and use to improve our cricket.”

Newly-crowned Twenty20 champions Central Districts crushed Canterbury by eight wickets in New Plymouth. Canterbury were dismissed for 77 in just 32.4 overs as CD’s fast bowlers Michael Mason and Ewen Thompson used the overcast conditions to their advantage. CD then overhauled the target in the 15th over to collect the bonus point. Canterbury struggled to cope with Thompson as he picked up 6 for 20. His first victim was opener Michael Papps, who fell without scoring off the fifth ball of the innings. Thompson went on to claim two middle-order wickets and then cleaned up the tail, going past 100 one-day wickets on the way. Rob Nicol, Johann Myburgh and Shannan Stewart were the only Canterbury batsmen to reach double figures. Jamie How scored a near run-a-ball 46, including nine boundaries, to steer CD home despite the early loss of George Worker for a duck.Kane Williamson scored an unbeaten century as Northern Districts cruised to a seven-wicket win against Wellington at the Basin Reserve. Wellington, who were invited to bat, managed 216 with half-centuries from wicketkeeper Chris Nevin and allrounder Luke Woodcock. ND overhauled the target in 33 overs. They lost their first wicket when Anton Devcich departed for a duck in the second over as Mark Gillespie celebrated his return to provincial action from a 13-month injury break. But BJ Watling and Williamson revelled in perfect batting conditions to deny Wellington any further inroads with a 145-run partnership for the second wicket. Watling was bowled by Harry Boam for 50 and Gillespie snapped up Michael Parlane an over later to have the visitors at 147 for 3. However, Daniel Flynn then held firm with 45 not out and together with Williamson (108 not out) saw them through.Tim McIntosh smashed his maiden one-day hundred to help Auckland to a convincing 84-run win over Otago in Oamaru. McIntosh’s fluent 138 laid the platform for Auckland’s huge 362 for 5, a total which proved too steep for Otago despite an unbeaten 110 from Yasir Arafat. Otago finished on 278 in the 47th over after Arafat and Greg Todd resurrected their hopes from 79 for 6. Arafat’s defiant hand left him unbeaten on 110 off only 81 deliveries, including 13 fours and three sixes. Once Auckland chose to bat, McIntosh struck 16 fours and three sixes during his 127-ball stay, and shared a second wicket stand of 194 with Reece Young (94), before Scott Styris upped the tempo with a blistering 55 off 23 balls.

Sri Lanka Under-19 offspinner Rushan Jaleel has been reported for an illegal bowling action. Bruce Oxenford and Shahul Hameed, the on-field umpires during Sri Lanka’s 2010 U-19 World Cup warm-up match against Hong Kong at Hagley Park in Christchurch, reported the 19-year-old soon after the conclusion of the match. The bowler sent down seven overs, picking up 1 for 49.Jaleel’s bowling action will now be scrutinised under the ICC process relating to cricket other than Tests, ODIs and Twenty20 internationals. The bowler will be assessed by the Sri Lankan board in accordance with Clause 3 of the ICC regulations, whereby it will “instigate an immediate assessment of the bowler’s action by its group of advisors and arrange for the undertaking of any remedial action required by the player concerned.”The board will then be asked to report back formally to the ICC within 21 days, but if the board’s assessment concludes that the bowler’s action is illegal, he would be immediately suspended from bowling in international cricket.Until the result of the Sri Lankan board’s assessment is made available, Jaleel may continue to play and bowl in the main tournament, beginning tomorrow, but may still be called by the umpires in accordance with the laws.Sri Lanka have been placed in Group C of the 2010 Under-19 World Cup along with hosts New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Canada, and begin their campaign against Zimbabwe at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval on January 17.

Ireland will play a quadrangular Twenty20 tournament in Sri Lanka, involving Sri Lanka A, Afghanistan and Canada, as part of their preparations for the ICC World Twenty20 qualifier in the UAE in February.Ireland will travel to Sri Lanka after the completion of their Intercontinental Cup match against Afghanistan and the four-team tournament will be held from January 31 to February 4,”This will give the squad a good work-out ahead of the UAE leg of the tour. It’ll get the players into the mindset of the shorter format of the game,” Phil Simmons, the Ireland coach, said. “We still haven’t played a lot of 20-over cricket, although the experience of playing in the finals in England last year will help us. There are only two places up for grabs for the finals in the West Indies, so it will be difficult for all the teams. There will be a lot of pressure games with so much at stake, but we have a lot of experience in our camp, which is so vital as we showed last year when we won the World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa.””I and the players want to make it four in a row in terms of qualifying for the major tournaments – when you get a taste of the big time, you want more. The players are still hungry for more success, and for me there would be the added bonus of coaching Ireland in the West Indies. We did fantastically well there in 2007, as that’s where we really announced ourselves on the world stage. Ireland has happy memories of the West Indies – it’d be great if we could have a few more in 2010.”

Chris Gayle will not quit as West Indies captain but acknowledges the three-day defeat in Brisbane was “downright embarrassing”. Gayle, writing a column in the , said he knows some critics think he is not right for the job.”I’ve got a message for those people – I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “I have been chosen as captain and it’s a job I will continue to do to the best of my ability. My heart is in it and I feel really strongly that I am the right man to lead the West Indies through this challenging period.”West Indies were beaten by an innings and 65 runs at the Gabba after being dismissed for 228 and 187 in the opening game of the three-match series. The second Test starts in Adelaide on Friday and the tourists will be without the fast bowler Jerome Taylor, who is due to be sent home with a back injury sustained on the opening day.”Jerome Taylor is not available for the rest of the series,” the manager Joel Garner told the Age. We have spoken about it, and the selectors will make a determination [about a replacement].”The problem adds to the issues for West Indies that include coming together after a long players’ strike, which led to a Test series loss to Bangladesh, and an apparent preference in some of the big names for lucrative limited-overs tournaments instead of Tests. Gayle said this year he wouldn’t be so sad if the five-day format died.However, Gayle insists he has the support of his struggling squad. “A lot has been happening over the past eight months but I am not into negativity,” Gayle said. “Negative energy is the last thing we need right now because we are just starting to try to regroup as a team. With my captaincy coming under fire, the really heartening thing for me is to see how I have respect from each and every one of the players in our squad. It makes my job easier to know that each individual supports me and it helps me get the best out of the players.”Gayle said the side had to be honest about its failures at the Gabba. “To lose 15 wickets in a day on a beautiful batting track is simply not good enough and there are no excuses for that,” he said. “We all know where we went wrong and after thinking about it for a while and coming up with some answers we have to try to get it out of our system as quickly as possible. We can’t afford to be too hard on ourselves, the Test series is still up for grabs and we have to be strong and positive if we are a chance of beating Australia.”

West Zone

In his second match in two days, Zaheer Khan, making a comeback from his shoulder injury, took two wickets to keep Gujarat down to 160. Rohit Sharma and wicketkeeper Aditya Tare chased the target easily to give Ranji champions Mumbai their second win, at the Deccan Gymkhana Ground in Pune. After Zaheer’s two top-order strikes, Jay Desai’s quick 41 and Bhavik Thaker (30 off 28 balls) looked to have given Gujarat the upper hand. The two compiled 58 for the fourth wicket to help them end on 160. Paul Valthaty provided some solidity during Mumbai’s reply, but at 79 for 3 in the ninth over, it was Rohit and Tare who took them through with nine balls to spare. While Rohit hit three fours and two sixes during his 33-ball 43, Tare clubbed five boundaries and two sixes en route to 49 off 36 balls.An all-round show from Ganesh Gaikwad took Maharashtra to their first victory of the tournament, with a narrow two-wicket win against Gujarat at the Pune Club Ground. Chirag Pathak (26) looked to have given Gujarat a solid start batting first, but two crucial strikes each from Sajin Sureshnath and Gaikwad kept them to 107. Gaikwad was once again at the forefront during the reply, securing the Maharashtra innings when they were stuttering at 51 for 4. His breezy 23-ball 33, comprising five fours took Maharashtra to safety, and Kiran Adhav and Sureshnath then sealed the victory with seven balls to spare.

East Zone

Parvez Aziz’s lightning 74 helped Assam continue their winning ways, with a 35-run win against Bengal at the Railway Stadium in Dhanbad. Opting to bat, Assam got off to a strong start with openers Aziz and Avijit Roy putting on 110 by the 13th over. Aziz tore into the opposition bowlers, smashing six fours and six sixes during his 44-ball innings. Offspinner Saurashish Lahiri picked up three quick wickets to keep Assam to 157. Bengal replied strongly during the chase, with Wriddhiman Saha and Deep Dasgupta putting on an opening stand of 53. But once Sairaj Bahutule made the initial inroads, Dhiraj Goswami and Sarupam Purkaystha ran through the middle and lower order, picking up three and two wickets respectively, to wrap up the Bengal innings in 17.4 overs.Orissa picked up their first points of the tournament, thrashing Tripura by 65 runs at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Dhanbad. Choosing to bat, Orissa were boosted by a string of forties from three of their top four batsmen. Having lost Natraj Behera for 7, Paresh Patel (41 off 39) and Niranjan Behera anchored the innings with a second-wicket stand of 50. Niranjan, who remained unbeaten on 44 off 42 balls, then combined with Rashmi Das to take them near the 140-mark. Das became Rana Dutta’s second victim, having hit four boundaries and two sixes during his 25-ball 45, as Orissa ended on 154. Having been dismissed for the lowest Twenty20 score ever in the previous match, Tripura’s disappointment continued as they folded for 89, with Patel being the pick of the Orissa bowlers with 3 for 16.

North Zone

Medium-pacer Jitender Billa’s three-wicket burst helped Haryana seal a 10-run win over Himachal Pradesh in Delhi. In pursuit of 147, HP lost early wickets but recovered to reach 126 for 4, with 21 needed off 9 balls. Billa then removed Abhinav Bali, who had threatened with a 45-ball 54, and dismissed Rishi Dhawan to ensure HP were beaten. Joginder Sharma supported Billa with two wickets. Haryana’s competitive score owed largely to an aggressive half-century from opener Ankit Rawat and some hitting at the death by Sachin Rana.Sunny Sohal and Ravi Inder Singh both scored 42 to deliver a strong start for Punjab, but their efforts were in vain as Delhi overhauled a target of 137 at the Palam A Ground with little difficulty. Barring the opening partnership of 75 between Sohal and Ravi Inder for Punjab, there was little support from the batsmen who followed. Rajat Bhatia impressed with three wickets and also starred with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 37, while boosted by important contributions from the middle order, to take Delhi home with five wickets and five balls to spare.Wicketkeeper Manvinder Bisla’s hurricane 75 handed Jammu & Kashmir a convincing nine-wicket victory against Services at the Palam A Ground. Mumtaz Qadir propped up Services to 127 with 51, including eight boundaries. He played a lone hand as the J&K bowlers, led by Samiullah Beigh (3 for 15), kept chipping away to prevent any batsman from playing a support role. While the opening stand for J&K yielded 57, Bisla and Hiken Shah’s unbeaten second-wicket partnership put on 71 to end Services’ hopes. Bisla smashed six fours and a six as J&K sealed the win with five balls to go.

Central Zone

Monish Mishra blitzed 84 off 37 balls to lead Madhya Pradesh to a comfortable six-wicket victory against Vidarbha in Indore. Chasing 164, Mishra hammered 10 fours and five sixes and by the time he was dismissed with the score on 118 in the 11th over, his team was comfortably placed. Jalaj Saxena and Abbas Ali scored 24 each as Madhya Pradesh reached the target with 15 balls to spare. Earlier Alind Naidu had scored 55 off 41 balls and Shalabh Shrivastava 44 off 27 to lead Vidarbha to 163 for 6 in 20 overs.