Mumbai follow-on despite Yadav, Shah tons

Suryakumar Yadav (111) and Hiken Shah (113) scored centuries, but could not save Mumbai from following-on, as they folded for 360 in reply to Saurashtra's first innings of 580, on the third day of the Ranji Trophy Elite division match in Rajkot, on Thursday.

Asked to bat again, Mumbai were three without loss in their second innings at stumps, at the Khandheri cricket stadium.

Yadav slammed 17 boundaries and three sixes during his breezy knock, which came off just 92 balls, while Shah faced 208 balls and hit 18 fours.

Resuming their first innings on 19 for 2, Mumbai lost their first wicket of the day in skipper Wasim Jaffer (4) before losing Kaustubh Pawar in the 10th over.

Yadav and Shah then joined hands and added 148 runs for the fifth wicket in 29.4 overs before the former was dismissed by Kamlesh Makvana in the 40th over.

Dhawal Kulkarni (10) was out cheaply, but Iqbal Abdullah (39) gave Shah company before being dismissed by Jaydev Unadkat.

Ramesh Powar also did not last long while Shah was a victim of Maniar in the 75th over.

Aavishkar Salvi was the last wicket to fall as Mumbai fell 20 runs short of avoiding the follow-on.

For Saurashtra, Sandip Maniar finished with impressive figures of five for 71, and was instrumental in triggering Mumbai's slide.

Brief Scores:
Saurashtra 580-9
Mumbai 360 all out (Yadav 111, Shah 113; Maniar 5-71) and 3-0.

Railways beat UP by innings & 94 runs

Railways registered one of their best victories in recent years when they thrashed a formidable Uttar Pradesh by an innings and 94 runs in an Elite Group A match at the Mohan Meakin ground in Ghaziabad.

Asked to follow-on, UP posted a paltry 201 in their second innings. Pacers Krishna Kant Upadhyay (2-42) and Sanjay Bangar (2-39) cleaned up the top-order to set up victory.

Railways got six points from the match.

Once Mohammed Kaif (36), UP's main batsman, was dismissed by Upadhyay with a lovely out-swinger -- the former India player's drive went to second slip at 93 for three -- it was just a matter of time.

The writing was on the wall and veteran India spinner Murali Kartik (5-27) polished off the lower-order to ensure Railways did not have to come out to field on the final day.

There wasn't much pressure when Kartik came on to bowl, as he even tried some Chinaman stuff, drifting away from his classical orthodox style.

After the first two rounds, Railways were facing the ignominy of relegation, having lost by 10 wickets to Mumbai, and innings defeat to Karnataka.

Now with 10 points from five rounds, they are eyeing a spot in the knock-out rounds.

For UP, complacency was a big factor. They took Railways way too lightly.

It will be an uphill task now for UP as they face mighty Mumbai and heavyweights Karnataka in their last two matches.

Brief Scores:
Railways 374
Uttar Pradesh 79 & 201 (Prashant Gupta 41, Mohd Kaif 36, M Kartik 5-27).

Orissa-Karnataka match heads for exciting finish

Orissa produced disciplined bowling to restrict Karnataka to 169 for 6 in the second innings on the third day, as their Elite Division match headed for an exciting finish in Bhubaneswar.

Basant Mohanty scalped two wickets while Santosh Jena, Alok Mangaraj and Biplab Samantray bagged one each as Karnataka established a lead of 192 runs with four wickets in hand.

For Karnataka, who scored at 2.41 runs per over, Amit Verma was batting on 38, the highest among the visiting batsmen, in the company of Sunil Raju, on 12, when stumps were drawn.

Captain Ganesh Satish contributed 33 while Robin Uthappa chipped in with 29 at the East Coast Railway Sports Association ground.

Earlier, resuming on 211 for seven, Orissa were all out for 255 in their first innings, having batted for 17.5 overs in the morning for the addition of 44 runs.

Govind Podder (53) added 19 more runs to his overnight 34 and completed his half century before he was the eighth vbatsman out.

Pacer Stuart Binny picked two more wickets today to end with figures of five for 51 while left-arm spinner K P Appanna claimed the third Orissa wicket to fall.

Brief Scores:
Karnataka 278 & 169-6 in 70 overs (Amit Verma batting 38, Basant Mohanty 2-35)
Orissa 255 in 93.5 overs (Govind Podder 53; Stuart Binny 5-51).

Robin Bisht leads Rajasthan's strong reply

A resolute ton by Robin Bisht, and his 152-run unbeaten stand with Rashmi Ranjan Parida, helped hosts Rajasthan post 321-4 at stumps in reply to Punjab's mammoth total of 597 for 8 on the third day of the Elite Group A match in Jaipur.

Bisht (104) and skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar (66) raised hopes of Rajasthan averting an outright defeat but the hosts are still 276 runs behind Punjab's first innings total and will have to continue the good run on Friday.

Resuming at 50 for one, Rajasthan lost Akash Chopra (36) and Ashok Menaria (6) before lunch and were in trouble at 132 for 3.

Kanitkar too departed, bowled by Harmeet Singh after the break, but Rashmi (71) and Bisht batted with caution to defy the Punjab bowlers.

For Punjab, Harmeet Singh was the most successful bowler with two for 56, while Manpreet Singh Goni, who left the field early due to injury, and Barinder Singh took one wicket each.

Ojha's century puts Madhya Pradesh in sight of victory

Naman Ojha scored an impressive century as Madhya Pradesh amassed 240 for 5 in pursuit of a victory target of 299 against Delhi, in the Elite Group B match at the Emerald Heights High School ground in Indore.

The final day's play is certainly tilted in MP's favour, as they need another 59 runs with five wickets in hand, but one can't just rule Delhi out.

Rajat Bhatia (3-30) struck three blows during the latter part of the day to dismiss Ojha, skipper Devendra Bundela and Jalaj Saxena.

Udit Birla (26 batting) and Harpreet Singh (5 batting) are MP's last recognized pair.

MP's chase was based on a 186-run third-wicket partnership between Ojha and Bundela (68) after speedster Parvinder Awana dismissed opener Zafar Ali (0) and one-drop Mohnish Mishra (0) off consecutive deliveries, as MP were reeling at 1-2.

Ojha was the dominant partner as he hit nine boundaries and four huge sixes in his 148-ball knock. This was his sixth first-class century in his 76th game.

Although, he doesn't possess the best of technique, the 28-year old showed a lot of positive intent as he hit a few glorious strokes in between a few streaky shots.

Bundela played the second fiddle to perfection during his 125-ball knock, as he hit 11 boundaries.

Earlier, Delhi's second innings folded at 296, with Yogesh Nagar (56) completing yet another half century.

Medium pacer Taduri Sudhindra (5-65) and leggie Asif Ali (3-57) shared the bulk of the spoils.

Brief Scores:
Delhi 158 & 296 (Mithun Manhas 97, Yogesh Nagar 56, TP Sudhindra 5-65).
MP 156 & 240-5 (target 299)(Naman Ojha 107, Devendra Bundela 68, Rahat Bhatia 3-30).