MP to face Chhattisgarh in final under floodlights

In the last round of league matches, played on Monday, both MP as well as Chattisgarh lost their respective matches, but still qualified for the title round.

MPCA, of course, had booked their passage to the final earlier on the strength of having won their first four matches. They topped the table with 16 points. Chattisgarh , who had won their first three matches, finished with 12 points after losing their last match to Bapuna XI by 3 wickets. For Bapuna XI, Neel Athaley regained form with a fine 93, while Varun Bisht contributed 89 as they chased down Chhattisgarh tally of 319/8 in 48.2 overs at the VCA's Kalamna ground.

Mumbai thrashed MP by a whopping 242 runs to also finish on 12 points, but Chhatrisgarh qualified for the final on head-to-head criterion, having beaten Mumbai earlier. At the VCA Civil Lines Stadium, Mumbai piled up 320/8 before dismissing MP for 78 runs in only 21.2 overs.

In the day's third match, played at VCA's Jamtha Stadium, Maharashtra registered their maiden win in the competition by beating Dinshaw's XI by six wickets. For Dinshaw's XI, Shivam Deshmukh top-scored with 77, while Aniket Pande contributed 71.

BRIEF SCORES

At Jamtha Stadium

Dinshaw’s XI 255 all out in 49.1 overs (Shivam Deshmukh 77, Aniket Pande 71, Vishesh Tiwari 41; Abdul Salam 6/39)

Maharashtra Cricket Association 258/4 in 46 overs (Kaushal Tambe 60, Digvijay Patil 51, Harshal Kate 72 n.o.; Pratham Maheswari 2/30)

Result: Maharashtra CA won by six wickets

At VCA's Kalamna ground

Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh 319/8 in 50 overs (Ashish Dahariya 105, Rahul Pradhan 43, Deepak 43 n.o., Dev Aditya Singh 54; Piyush Savarkar 3/67, Arjun Ingle 3/73)

Bapuna XI 323/7 in 48.2 overs (Neel Athaley 93, Mohd Faiz 42, Varun Bisht 89, Ashit Singh 33; Vijay Yadav 3/44)

Result: Bapuna XI by 3 wickets

At VCA Civil Lines Stadium

Mumbai Cricket Association 320/8 in 50 overs (Pragnesh Kanpillewar77, Manan Bhat 43, Harshal Jadhav 47; Ramveer Gurjar 3/85)

Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association 78 all out in 21.2 overs (Arjun Dani 5/31, Nikhil Giri 3/19)

Result: Mumbai CA won by 242 runs