Amit Pasi’s blistering 114 off 55 balls powered Baroda to 220 for 5 in Hyderabad, but Services fought back to win by 13 runs and seal Baroda’s fate outside the Super League.
Opening with purpose, Pasi stormed to fifty in 24 balls and reached a hundred in 44, sharing a 75-run third-wicket stand with Vishnu Solanki (25 off 12). His aggressive knock included ten fours and nine sixes, matching Bilal Asif’s top T20 debut score. Bhanu Pania added a handy 28 not out as Baroda posted a competitive total, yet Services managed to chase down the target, finishing at 207 for 8.
For Baroda, Raj Limbani claimed 3 for 37 to be the most successful bowler, while Kunwar Pathak and Ravi Chauhan each offered early life to Services with their opening burst, and captain Mohit Ahlawat’s 41 off 22 kept the chase interesting for a while.
Tamil Nadu rode Sai Sudharsan’s unbroken 55-ball century to a tense three-wicket win over Saurashtra, lifting themselves from the bottom of Elite Group D to fourth place. With TN slumping to 29 for 3 in chase of 183, Sudharsan anchored the innings, hammering boundaries off both ends as he raced to a 28-ball fifty and then a majestic hundred, punctuating the finish with a boundary over the bowler’s head as he reached three figures with the chase well inside 20 overs. Unadkat’s 3 for 30 bowled a big part in restricting TN at the start, but Sudharsan’s counterpunch and a 37-run seventh-wicket stand with Sunny Sandhu sealed the deal.
Madhya Pradesh’s late bid to qualify for the Super League faltered in a 13-run defeat to Jammu & Kashmir, yet their overall edge in Group B was enough to secure a top-two finish alongside Hyderabad. J&K posted 150 for 9, with Abdul Samad and Auqib Nabi contributing meaningful if modest scores. MP could only muster 137, with Nabi and Sumit Kumar sharing four wickets apiece to derail the chase.
Punjab booked their Super League spot thanks to Naman Dhir’s rapid 61 (36 balls) and Harpreet Brar’s all-round influence, lifting the total to 188 for 8 against Gujarat. Harpreet’s hefty 24 off eight at the death punctured Gujarat’s reply, where Harshal Patel conceded 24 from an over and Ravi Bishnoi leaked 36 in his four. Gujarat were bowled out for 113 as Ashwani Kumar, Ramandeep Singh, Harpreet, Sanvir Singh and Gaurav Chaudhary claimed two wickets apiece.
Haryana advanced from Group C after posting 191 for 9, then defending stoutly against Bengal, led by Mohammed Shami’s quartet but bested by Haryana’s top-order surge. Ankit Kumar (46 off 30), Nishant Sindhu (48 off 31) and Yashvardhan Dalal (31 off 22) steered the innings, while Bengal’s push faltered in the middle order, eventually bowing out for 167.
Mumbai, already through from Group A, wrapped up their league phase with a confident chase of 168 against Odisha. Ajinkya Rahane’s unbeaten 95 off 56 powered a nine-wicket win, as Sarfaraz Khan (38 off 26) supported the late surge and Angkrish Raghuvanshi finished unbeaten on 38. Rahane’s 1,727 T20 runs for Mumbai pushed him past Suryakumar Yadav as the franchise’s all-time leading run-scorer in the format.
In a high-profile clash in Ahmedabad, Jharkhand, already assured of a Super League berth, outplayed Rajasthan 215 for 5 to 179 all out. Virat Singh (69 off 36), Kumar Kushagra (55 off 37) and Robin Minz (58 off 27) provided the bulk of Jharkhand’s runs, while Anukul Roy and Sushant Mishra snared three apiece with the ball to seal the win.
With the group stage concluded, the field is set for the two four-team Super League groups, from which a single final will be staged on December 18 in Pune. The next round begins on December 12, as teams vie for coveted progression spots and a shot at the trophy.
