Assam, Combined Districts, Karnataka, and Hyderabad entered the semifinals of the Buchi Babu all-India invitation cricket tournament after the completion of the league phase on Sunday.
Assam defeated Madhya Pradesh by 20 runs in a third-round match to top Zone A with nine points and qualify for the last four. In Zone B, S. Suresh Kumar took five wickets with his off-spin to help Combined
Districts register a comfortable victory over Andhra and advance.
The battle to reach the knockout stage was tighter in Zones C and D. Although Karnataka and TNCA President’s XI were tied on points in Zone C, Karnataka’s superior Net Run Rate of 0.801 (compared to President XI’s 0.063) won it a semifinal spot.
Abhinav Kumar’s unbeaten, run-a-ball 110 and T. Suman’s 84 were instrumental in Hyderabad’s win over Kerala in Zone D. Although Saurashtra completed a comprehensive win over Orissa, equalling
Hyderbad on points and recording a healthy Net Run Rate of 1.421, it couldn’t better Hyderabad’s rate (1.667).
The scores (third-round matches):
Zone A:
At VB Nest: Assam 257 bt Madhya Pradesh 237 in 83.4 overs (Anand Singh 40, Manoj Singh 48, Rameez Khan 75). Points: Assam 4, Madhya Pradesh 0.
Zone B:
At SRMC (Turf): Combined Districts 333 bt Andhra 258 in 81.4 overs (A. Rakesh 50, B. Sumant 55, Moshin Bhasa 44, K.S. Bharath Reddy 42, S. Suresh Kumar five for 36). Points: Combined Districts 4, Andhra 0.
At MAC: New Zealand 240 bt Baroda 168 in 48.3 overs (Pinal Shah 44, Tarun Nethula four for 44) Points: New Zealand 4, Baroda 0.
Zone C:
At MRF-Pachaiyappa’s: Mumbai 230 lost to Karnataka 234 for six in 60.3 overs (C.M. Gautam 53, Amit Verma 65 n.o.). Points: Karnataka 4, Mumbai 0.
At CPT IP: Vidarbha 238 lost to TNCA President’s XI 239 for six in 88.1 overs (Ashwin Venkat Raman 88 n.o., R. Naresh 42). Points: TNCA President’s XI 4, Vidhardha 0.
Zone D:
At Viveka: Kerala 238 lost to Hyderabad 239 for one in 37.2 overs (Abhinav Kumar 110 n.o., T. Suman 84). Points: Hyderabad 4, Kerala 0.
At Mayajaal: Saurashtra 329 bt Orissa 130 in 50.3 overs (S. Biswal 52 n.o., Rakesh V. Dhruv six for 45). Points: Saurashtra 4, Orissa 0.
