Group A
Tamil Nadu v Maharashtra
Tamil Nadu 167/4 in 20 overs (Shankar 42; Bachhav 2-35) beat Maharashtra 155/6 in 20 overs (Gaikwad 51; Ashwin 2-18) by 12 runs.
Tamil Nadu began the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021 campaign by beating Maharashtra by 12 runs in Lucknow. They posted 167/4 after being put in, and restricted Maharashtra to 155/6. Vijay Shankar top-scored for Tamil Nadu with an unbeaten 21-ball 42. Coming to chase, Ruturaj Gaikwad scored 51 off 30 balls, but did not receive enough support to take his side past finishing line. M. Ashwin returned 2-18, and T. Natarajan 1-38.
Goa v Odisha
Goa 104/8 in 20 overs (Ranjane 32; Behera 3-14) lost to Odisha 107/6 in 19.5 overs (Rath 29; Garg 2-11) by 4 wickets with 1 ball to spare.
Jayanta Behera returned 3-14 to help Odisha register a four-wicket win against Goa. Behera, Bikash Rout (3-27) and Ashish Rai (2-20) shared eight wickets, as Goa struggled to reach 104/8 after being asked to bat. The Goa bowlers kept things in check till the final over. Govinda Poddar (24) and Abhishek Yadav (18) played aggressively to guide Odisha reach the target a ball to spare.
Puducherry v Punjab
Puducherry 106 in 19.5 overs (Trivedi 44; Abhishek 3-7) lost to Punjab 107/2 in 12.5 overs (Abhishek 54*; Trivedi 1-14) by 8 wickets with 43 balls to spare.
Punjab blew Puducherry away, courtesy Abhishek Sharma’s all-round show. He first returned 3-1-7-3 with ball to bowl Puducherry out for 106 in 19.5 overs, and then, hit an unbeaten 33-ball 54 to take Punjab home with eight wickets and 43 balls to spare.
Group B
Chhattisgarh v Bengal
Chhattisgarh 118/7 in 20 overs (Herwadkar 73; Mukesh 2-26) lost to Bengal 119/3 in 17 overs (Chatterjee 51*; Ravi 2-24) by 7 wickets with 18 balls to spare.
Bengal beat Chhattisgarh by seven wickets in Guwahati. Akhil Herwadkar (73) scored more than half of Chhattisgarh’s 118/7. Sudip Chatterjee (51*) then guided Bengal reach the target with three overs to spare.
Baroda v Services
Baroda 124/9 in 20 overs (Pania 55; Nitin 3-22) lost to Services 128/8 in 20 overs (Pathania 41*; Rathva 3-8) by 2 wickets with 0 ball to spare.
Diwesh Pathania’s unbeaten 28-ball 41 helped Services clinch a last-ball thriller against Baroda. Pathania and Varun Choudhary (13*) added an unbroken 55 for the tenth wicket to guide Services chase 125 on the final ball of the match.
Karnataka v Mumbai
Karnataka 166/4 in 20 overs (Pandey 84; Avasthi 2-32) beat Mumbai 157/6 in 20 overs (Rahane 75; Cariappa 3-26) by 9 runs.
Manish Pandey (84), Karun Nair (72) and K.C. Cariappa (3-26) starred in Karnataka’s nine-run win against Mumbai. Ajinkya Rahane scored 75 off 54 balls for Mumbai, but it went in vain.