Ranji: Mumbai knocked out; Gujarat go top

Multiple-time champions Mumbai were knocked out of the ongoing Ranji Trophy after drawing against Saurashtra in their elite Group B match, in Rajkot, on Friday.

Saurashtra's Dharmendrasinh Jadeja and Kamlesh Makwana played patient knocks to deny Mumbai an outright victory.

Saurashtra, thus, took three points from the drawn affair, courtesy their first-innings lead.

Mumbai, whose fightback was led by Suryakumar Yadav's ton, had to be content with a solitary point.

Mumbai, the most successful team in the history of the Ranji Trophy with 41 titles, still have a game left against Madhya Pradesh, but their campaign is over as they have only 14 points; even an outright win won't help them to make the knock-outs.

Only top five teams from combined Group A and B make the quarter-finals.

Two teams go through from Group C, while one team moves ahead from the Plate Group.

On fourth and final day, Mumbai’s spinners Shams Mulani (3/47) and Shashank Attarde (3/45) ran through the Saurashtra top and middle order to leave the hosts reeling at 83 for 7 and raise hopes of a Mumbai win.

But Jadeja, who came in at number nine and Makwana, who came in at eight, held both the ends up and batted together for almost 40 overs to deny Mumbai six points.

Makwana, who remained unbeaten on 31, consumed 116 balls, while Jadeja, who remained unbeaten on 33, batted for 125 balls.

The duo negated the challenge posed by Mumbai’s spinners on a deteriorating track and dashed Mumbai's hopes.

After Mumbai declared for 362 for 7 in their second essay, Attarde removed Snell Patel (0) with a return catch.

Just two balls later, Attarde got his second after Divyaraj Chouhan's (0) flick was caught at short-mid wicket by Mulani.

Soon, it became 21/3 as Mulani got one to skid and trapped Sheldon Jackson (11) in-front of the wicket.

Harvik Desai (24) and Arpit Vasavada (31) ensured that Saurashtra took lunch at 35 for 3. But post lunch, Mumbai grabbed another four wickets as Saurashtra imploded fast.

First, Mulani broke through Harvik Desai's defence as he was caught by Jay Bista and then Chirag Jani (0) and Prerak Mankad (9) too perished quickly.

Mulani then removed danger-man Vasavada as Saurashtra were on the verge of a defeat.

But then Jadeja and Makwana joined hands and dashed Mumbai's hopes.

Saurahstra next play Tamil Nadu and still have a chance to make the quarters.

Meanwhile at Shimoga, Madhya Pradesh grabbed three points after their match ended in a draw against Karnataka.

Karnataka had posted huge 426 in their first innings, but Aditya Srivastava struck a gritty 192 to give Madhya Pradesh give the crucial first innings lead.

In the Delhi, Railways took three points from their drawn game against Himachal Pradesh, courtesy the first-innings lead.

Brief scores: Mumbai 262 and 362/7 declared (Suryakumar Yadav 134, Shams Mulani 92; Prerak Mankad 2-52) vs Saurashtra 335 and 158/7. Match Drawn. Saurashtra took first-innings lead.

Points: Saurashtra 3, Mumbai 1.

At Shimoga: Karnataka 426 and 62/1 vs Madhya Pradesh 431 (Aditya Shrivastava 192, Venkatesh Iyer 86; Abhimanyu Mithun 3/69). Match Drawn. MP took first innings lead.

Points: MP 3, Karnataka 1.

At New Delhi (Karnail Singh Stadium): Himachal Pradesh 283 and 165/3 vs Railways 545 for 7 declared. Match drawn. Railways took first-innings lead.

Points: Railways 3, HP 1. 

Gujarat go top, Delhi all but out

New Delhi: Gujarat virtually put a lacklustre Delhi out of the knock-out race after grabbing three points from their Group A Ranji Trophy match, which ended in a draw.

On the basis of their 42-run first innings lead, Gujarat grabbed three points from the contest to take their tally to 29 from seven outings. They now sit atop the cross pool (Group A and B) standings.

The top five teams in the cross pool qualify for the quarter-finals. The top two from Group C and the best side in the Plate Group will complete the line-up.

Delhi are now left with a home game against Rajasthan, starting in New Delhi from February 12, and have to get seven points (including bonus) to entertain hopes of making the grade.

Even a total of 25 points may not suffice as Gujarat (29), Andhra (27), Bengal (26), Saurashtra (25) and Karnataka (25) are already in top five with a game left.

On final day, Himmat Singh (70 off 76 balls) hit some lusty blows as Delhi declared at 333 for 8, leaving Gujarat with a target of 292 in little over two sessions.

The match was called off at tea when Gujarat reached 128 for 2, as it was clear that no outright result was possible.

Brief scores:

At Delhi: Delhi 293 and 333 for 8 declared (Himmat Singh 70) vs Gujarat 335 and 128/2 (Manprit Juneja 51 not out).

Points: Gujarat 3, Delhi 1

At Jaipur: Rajasthan 241 and 201 vs Bengal 123 and (target 320) 320/8 (Koushik Ghosh 64, Abhimanyu Easwaran 62, Shahbaz Ahmed 55). Bengal won by 2 wickets.

Points: Bengal 6, Rajasthan 0.

At Nagpur: Vidarbha 326 vs Kerala 191/3.

Points: Vidarbha 1, Kerala 1.

Maharashtra beat Odisha by 10 wickets

Pune: Maharashtra defeated Odisha by 10 wickets on the fourth and final day of their Group C match on Friday to pick up seven points from the encounter.

However, the victory may not help Maharashtra's cause as it lies in fifth spot with 28 points behind Jammu & Kashmir (39), Odisha (35), Services (33) and Haryana (30). Only the top two teams from the group will advance to the knock-out stages.

Maharashtra, which had declared at a mammoth 543 for five in reply to Odisha's first innings score of 293, dismissed the visitors for 289 in the second essay, setting themselves a target of 40 runs which they knocked off in 11 overs.

Resuming at the overnight score of 24 for no loss, Odisha were bowled out for 289 in 86.1 overs despite a fighting ton by Govinda Poddar (118, 187 balls, 14 fours, 2 sixes).

Left-arm medium-pacer Mukesh Choudhary was the best bowler for Maharashtra, returning with figures of 4 for 99 while medium-pacer Ashay Palkar and left-arm spinner Satyajeet Bachhav were among wickets too.

The right-handed Poddar held the Odisha innings together as no other batsmen barring opener Anurag Sarangi (73, 152 balls, 13 fours) could build on the starts.

Sarangi and Poddar put on 94 runs for the third wicket and kept the Maharashtra bowlers at bay for nearly 28 overs.

After the exit of Sarangi, who was dismissed by Choudhary, Poddar and Biplab Samantray (19) added 40 runs for the fourth wicket.

Poddar was also involved in a half-century partnership with Abhishek Raut (23, 43 balls, 4 fours).

After the dismissal of Raut, Odisha lost their next five wickets in the space of 32 runs.

Choudhary bowled with a lot of discipline to pick up four wickets while Bachhav and Palkar too struck vital blows.

Skipper Ankit Bawane (14 not out) and Rahul Tripathi (21 not out) then ensured an easy win for Maharasthra.

The loss was a setback for Odisha, which is now static at 35 points with a game in hand against Jharkhand.

Brief scores: Odisha 293 in 101.1 overs (Shantanu Mishra 84, Rajesh Dhuper 110 not out, Anurag Sarangi 41; A Palkar 4/81) and 289 in 86.1 overs (Govinda Poddar 118, Anurag Sarangi 73, Mukhesh Choudhary 4/99) lost to  Maharashtra 543 for 5 declared in 149.5 overs (Ankit Bawane 204 not out, Ruturaj Gaikwad 129, N S Shaikh 100; Suryakant Pradhan 2/92) and 40 for no loss in 11 overs.

Points: Maharashtra: 7, Odisha: 0.

At Jamshedpur: Chhattisgarh 559 all out in 160.3 overs (Harpreet Singh Bhatia 221, Ajay Mandal 121 not out, Jiwanjot Singh 52; Sahil Raj 3/83, Sonu Kumar Singh 3/158) drew with Jharkhand 242 in 75 overs (Virat Singh 140; Veer Pratap Singh 3/46, Puneet Datey 3/50) and 51 for no loss in 14 overs (Arnav Sinha 31 batting).

Points: Chhattisgarh: 3, Jharkhand 1.