Ranji Trophy: Karnataka-Delhi match ends in a draw

Manish Pandey's brisk half-century was not enough to force an outright victory, but Karnataka, thanks to their 106-run first innings lead, garnered three points from a draw against Delhi in the Ranji Trophy Super League match, in Delhi.

Delhi resumed the final day on 255 for nine and eventually their second innings folded for 277.

Chasing 172 runs for an outright win, Karnataka lost their top four wickets -- including skipper Rahul Dravid (5) -- for 60 runs and eventually finished with 149 for six in 38 overs when stumps were drawn.

Pandey struck a 44-ball 50 that was studded with five fours and a six before being run-out.

With Sumit Narwal (2/36) and Parvinder Awana (2/54) exploiting the conditions, Karnataka got off to a poor start in their second innings, losing opener Muralidheren Gautam (5) in the second over.

Next-man-in Amit Verma (5) and opener K B Pawan (29) fell in quick successions, leaving Karnataka at 50 for three.

Ten runs later, Dravid (5) edged Narwal and perished caught behind, as Karnataka suddenly looked in a spot of bother at 60 for four.

Pandey and Thilak Naidu (22), however, looked unperturbed as they scored at a brisk pace. The duo added 46 runs in 44 balls before Awana had Naidu caught behind.

Orissa hold Mumbai

Mumbai: A dogged unbeaten 78 by Niranjan Behera helped Orissa close at 243 for 8 in response to Mumbai's 374 for 4 decl. The defending champions' failure to take last two Orissa wickets cost them two vital points.

Mumbai, riding on Jaffer's masterful 165 not out, declared on 307 for four, thereby giving themselves 80 overs to bowl the visitors out.

Iqbal Abdullah (4/52) and Zaheer Khan (3/100) ensured Orissa had to dig deep to survive.

Opener B S Pati (55) and veteran Pravanjan Mullick (50) were the other significant contributors to Orissa's cause.

Mumbai had drawn their first match against Punjab in Chandigarh, but managed to secure three points on the basis of the first innings lead. Orissa, meanwhile, had suffered a defeat away to Gujarat.

TN earn three points

Ahmedabad: Gujarat opener Jay Desai scored a brisk century but Tamil Nadu ran away with three points, including two bonus, after their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match ended in a draw.

The visitors earned extra points by virtue of the first innings lead, which they secured on Thursday.

Gujarat got just one point from the tie.

Tamil Nadu on Friday began at 357 for six and declared their first innings at 419 for eight after their skipper Dinesh Karthik (88) missed out on a century.

C Ganapathy (34 not out) and Laxmipathy Balaji (30) played good cameos down the order.

Gujarat, who made 343 in their first innings, were trailing by 73 runs and ended the day on 165 for four.

VVS & Yadav deny Punjab

Mohali: Skipper VVS Laxman (55) and Arjun Yadav (57 not out) scored half-centuries on the final day as Hyderabad held on for a draw against Punjab in their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match.

Punjab earned three points, two more than Hyderabad, as they had taken a narrow 28-run first innings lead.

Chasing 336 to win on the final day, Hyderabad managed 254 for seven, with their middle-order batting superbly to deny Punjab an outright win.

T Suman (39) and Abhinav Kumar (26) put up a tremendous opening stand of 71 runs and the following batsmen also made valuable contributions.

After both the openers departed in the space of 14 balls, Ambati Rayudu (46) and Laxman batted with steely resolve and added 97 runs for the third wicket.

The brilliant stand ended with the tragic run-out of Laxman and more to the surprise of Hyderabad, Rayudu also returned to the hut at the same score, caught behind off Harmeet Singh.

Sniffing a chance to win, Punjab intensified its attack but a determined Yadav held one end and batted through the day to ensure his team at least a point. He batted for almost three hours and faced 141 balls, hitting only five boundaries.

Saurashtra survive against UP

Rajkot: Saurashtra survived some anxious moments before managing a draw against Uttar Pradesh in their opening Ranji Trophy Group B match at the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground.

Uttar Pradesh declared their second innings at 148 for 9. Saurashtra, set a victory target of 277, scored 155 for five.

Uttar Pradesh had made 395 in their first innings and bundled out the hosts for 267, taking a 128-run lead, which earned them three points from the match.

Openers Chirag Pathak and Bhushan Chauhan gave a good start to the hosts, scoring 70 runs, but a mini middle-order collapse created some panic before they pulled off a draw.

Medium pacer Salabh Srivastav drew first blood by removing Pathak (50 runs) while Shivakant Shukla picked up Chauhan (33).

Shukla, who was getting purchase from the wicket, then dealt a double blow to the hosts by removing Jaydev Shah (33) and Sagar Jogiyani, who could not open his account.

Pratik Mehta (14) and Rakesh Dhruve (12) though batted sensibly and saw off the day's proceedings.

Baroda pockets three points

Kolkata: Satyajit Parab cracked a patient 154 as Baroda amassed 458 for eight in their second innings, but it was the 14-run first innings lead that gave the visitors the all-important three points from their drawn Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match against Bengal.

Resuming at the overnight score of 57 for one, Baroda's batsmen made merry against a hapless Bengal bowling attack, as apart from Parab, three other batsmen notched half centuries.

Parab's 154 came off 230 balls and included 20 fours and a couple of sixes. Jacob Martin (52), all-rounder Yusuf Pathan (63) and Pinal Shah (51 not out) were the other notable contributors in Baroda's mammoth score before stumps were drawn.

Bengal's bowlers couldn't put the lid on Baroda's brisk scoring pace though Surashish Lahiri, Sayan Mondal and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala scalped two wickets apiece.

However, Baroda were dealt an early blow when Azhar Bilakhia (14) was trapped leg before by Ranadeb Bose.

But Parab and Jacob Martin combined for a 112-run partnership to steady the innings and even after the latter departed with the team at 178, Baroda's pace of scoring didn't slow down.

Railways, HP share points from truncated tie

New Delhi: Railways had to be satisfied with just one point from their Group A match against Himachal Pradesh after the weather-hit Ranji Trophy Super League match ended in a stalemate.

Having posted 419 in their first innings, Railways were gunning for at least the first innings lead that would have earned them two more points but bad light allowed just 19 overs of play today and Himachal were 145 for four in their first essay when stumps were drawn.

Himachal also gained one point from the drawn tie.

Himachal resumed the final day's play at 125 for two with Paras Dogra and (37) and Vinit Indulkar (27 not out) but poor visibility meant Railways simply did not have enough time and overs to run through the visitors' line-up and gained a first innings lead.

In the fourth over of the day, Dogra returned run out and five runs later, Shailender Gehlot castled Ajay Mannu (4) to reduce Himachal to 132 for four.

But another 12 overs could be bowled before bad light ended play with Indulkar and Mukesh Sharma (3) in the middle.