Ranji: Mumbai fail to force a win against Railways

A round-up of the fourth day action of the various Ranji Trophy Super League matches on Friday.

New Delhi: Mumbai held by Railways

Mumbai failed to force a win against a spirited Railways, whose tail wagged fantastically to hold the defending champions to a draw in their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match in New Delhi.

Mumbai were in sight of a victory after reducing Railways to 174 for seven on Friday, with the home team just 77 runs ahead and visitors to bat last.

But Railways' Marripuri Suresh (89) and captain Murali Kartik (44) batted with determination to take the home side to 309 all out, adding 135 runs from 49 overs.

Mumbai did not have enough overs to chase down 213 for a victory.

The visitors scored 69 for no loss from 24 overs before the match was declared drawn.

Ajinkya Rahane and Sahil Kukreja remained unbeaten on 37 and 30 respectively.

Mumbai got three points by virtue of their first innings lead and are now on the second spot in the Group A table -- behind Tamil Nadu -- with 12 points.

Brief Scores: Railways 187and 309 drew Mumbai 284 and 69 for no loss.

Lucknow: Kohli's ton in vain, UP humble Delhi

Virat Kohli's valiant hundred went in vain as Uttar Pradesh humbled Delhi by an innings and 22 runs in their Group B Ranji Trophy Super League match in Lucknow.

Overnight 104 for two after being forced to follow on, Delhi's batting collapsed after Kohli's breezy 145-run knock that came off 173 balls.

The visitors were bundled out for 312 in their second innings which was 22 runs short of UP's mammoth first essay total of 536.

UP didn't just picked up the winner's five points but were also awarded a bonus point for the innings triumph. 

Earlier, Puneet Bisht (79) and Kohli raised Delhi's hopes of an unlikely draw as the two shared a 202-run partnership for the third wicket but once Kohli was dismissed after striking 22 boundaries in his lively knock, Delhi began to sink.

Rajat Bhatia (56 not out) was the only other batsman to offer some resistance as all-rounder Suresh Raina's off-spin fetched UP the crucial breakthroughs.

Raina rattled Bisht's stumps in the 66th over, which triggered a lower-order collapse.

To Delhi's misfortune, their tail didn't wag as Raina and Piyush Chawla ran through the lower order to hand UP a comfortable win.

Brief Scores: Uttar Pradesh: 536 beat Delhi: 202 and 312 all out (Virat Kohli 145, Puneet Bisht 79, Suresh Raina 3 for 61, Piyush Chawla 2 for 67).

Hyderabad: Anirudh saves Hyderabad from defeat against Orissa

Anirudh Singh hit a combative 74 to carve out a thrilling draw for Hyderabad after Dhiraj Singh had almost pulled off a sensational win for Orissa in their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match in Hyderabad.

Chasing an improbable 321 for win, Hyderabad were staring at defeat after being reduced to 191 for nine but Anirudh saw off the last 43 balls along number 11 A Lalith Mohan, settling for 205/9 in the end.

Orissa though had the consolation of earning three points including a bonus, courtesy their first innings lead. 

Earlier on Friday, resuming at 159 for four, Orissa declared their second innings at 243 for five, setting a stiff 321 run target for the hosts.

Then Basanth Mohanty (2/70) and Alok Sahoo (2/45) shared four top-order wickets as Orissa pushed for win. 

Left-arm spinner Dhiraj polished off the middle and lower order with a four-wicket burst to bring his team close to a sensational win.

However, Anirudh and Mohan (2) poured cold water on their hopes as they held their nerves to see off the intriguing seven overs.

Anirudh battled for 135 balls and hit eight fours and a six in his exceptional knock under pressure. 

To his credit, Mohan showed a lot of character to survive 18 balls.

Brief Scores: Orissa 276 & 243 for 5 decl. vs Hyderabad 199 & 205 for 9.

Mohali: Second consecutive big win for Punjab

Punjab notched up their second successive comprehensive win when they mauled Gujarat by an innings and 32 runs in their Ranji Trophy Super League match in Mohali. 

In their previous match also, Punjab had won by an innings margin with Tamil Nadu being at the receiving end. 

Courtesy their huge win and first innings lead, Punjab earned six points, one bonus, out of the tie. 

The hosts took just 18.5 overs today to complete the formalities and finished the match in the first session itself by taking the remaining three wickets, bundling out the visitors for 252. 

Gujarat resumed at 227 for seven and all they could have hoped was Rujul Butt, who was 93 overnight, to get his hundred.

However, Butt could not reach the milestone as Manpreet Gony sent him back off the third ball of the day, getting him caught behind.

Rahul Sharma bowled Salil Yadav (4), the other overnight batsman, and Harmeet Singh castled Mehul Patel (6) to bring down the curtains on Gujarat's innings. 

Brief Scores: Gujarat: 160 and 252 (Rujul Butt 95; Manpreet Gony 4 for 105, Harmeet Singh 3 for 28) vs Punjab 1st innings: 444.

Dharamsala: Tamil Nadu thump Himachal by 91 runs, top Group A

Pacer Chandrasekar Ganapathy wrecked Himachal Pradesh with a five-wicket haul to set up a 91-run victory for Tamil Nadu in their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match in Dharamsala.

Ganapathy (5 for 61) ripped through the Himachal top order to bundle out the hosts for 155 in just 47.4 overs in their second innings on the fourth and final day. 

India discard Laxmipathy Balaji also chipped in with impressive figures of four for 29. Tamil Nadu collected five points from the victory and they are now sitting on the top of Group A table with 17 points from two wins and as many draws. 

Everything went right for Tamil Nadu today as they first added 120 second innings runs from just 25.3 overs with Subramaniam Badrinath (50) and Ravichandran Ashwin (51) hitting half centuries.

Set a target of 247 to win from two sessions, the home team found the Tamil Nadu pace trio of Ganapathy, Balaji and Yo Mahesh (one for 36) too hot to handle and caved in meekly. 

Half of Himachal batsmen were back in the pavilion at 57 with Ganapathy claiming four of them.

Vikarmjeet Malik, who came at number nine, was the top-scorer for Himachal with 45 while Ajay Mannu remained not out at 31.

Brief Scores: Tamil Nadu: 293 for 8 decl and 319 all out in 83.3 overs (Subramaniam Badrinath 50, Ravichandran Ashwin 51; Vikramjeet Malik 3 for 80, Kuldeep Diwan 3 for 65) vs Himachal 366 and 155 (Vikramjeet Malik 45, Chandrasekar Ganapathy 5 for 61, L Balaji 4 for 29).

Pune: Karnataka thrash Maharashtra by an innings

Karnataka thumped Maharashtra by an innings and 128 runs in their Ranji Trophy Elite Division Group B tie in Pune to gather six points and boost their tally to 17.

Maharashtra, facing a certain defeat at stumps on the third day yesterday and needing 194 runs to make Karnataka bat again, were shot out for 320 today in their second innings. 

Trailing by a massive 448 runs on the first innings, the home team's slender hopes of forcing Karnataka to bat again lay in the overnight not out pair of Ankit Bawne and Ganesh Gaikwad continuing their fight.

But once the sixth wicket partnership was broken, following the duo's addition of 40 runs this morning after Maharashtra resumed at 254 for five, the inevitable happened.

Bawne, the 16-year-old talented boy who made his first class debut against the same opponents at Ratnagiri two years ago, fell to S Arvind after making a sparkling 136 in 224 balls embellished with 22 fours and a six.

Vinay Kumar picked up Gaikwad for 47 and the rest capitulated to leave Karnataka victors with a bonus point to boot. They now stand atop the Group B table five points clear of Uttar Pradesh.

The only sour note for Karnataka was the fine imposed on captain Robin Uthappa, who was docked his entire match fees for a Level 2 breach of code in connection with Bawne's dismissal by match referee Rajendra Jadeja.

Maharashtra remained on one point and are now in clear danger of relegation to the plate league. 

Brief Scores: Maharashtra 105 and 320 (A Bawne 136, R Motwani 78, G Gaikwad 47; Vinay Kumar 3 for 83, A Mithun 4 for 66) lost to Karnataka 553 for 4 declared by an innings and 128 runs.