Ranji Trophy: Virat Kohli leads Delhi to victory

Stand-in skipper Virat Kohli led from the front with an unbeaten 88 as Delhi spanked Saurashtra by eight wickets to pocket five points from their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match at home on Friday.

Chasing 160, the hosts cruised to 161 for 2 in 32 overs, with Kohli and Mithun Manhas (23) guiding them to victory.

It turned out to be a memorable outing for Kohli, who was asked to lead the side in the absence of regular skipper Aakash Chopra, who missed the match because of his marriage.

Earlier, Saurashtra began their second essay on 181 for seven and folded for 214, setting Delhi 160 runs to win the tie.

Pawan Suyal (4/41) was the pick of the Delhi bowlers, even though Parwinder Awana (3/48) and Pradeep Sangwan (2/49) were also among the wickets.

Delhi's chase faltered early, with opener Aditya Jain (10) edging Sandeep Jobanputra in the ninth over.

Next-man-in Kohli and Ankur Julka (33) then took charge, milking the Saurashtra bowlers with consummate ease.

The duo had added 78 runs when Ravindra Jadeja caught Julka off his own bowling.

But with Manhas joining Kohli in the middle, the visitors did not get another chance to celebrate.

Kohli's 86-ball 88 included 12 hits to the fence apart from two sixes.

Brief scores:
Saurashtra: 328 & 214.
Delhi: 383 & 161 for 2.

Dinesh Karthik slams 152, TN draw with Orissa

Sambalpur: Tamil Nadu skipper Dinesh Karthik slammed a blistering 152 as the visitors gained three points, courtesy their 34-run first innings lead, from their drawn Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match against Orissa on Friday.

Orissa had to be satisfied with just a lone point from the stalemate.

With no real result in sight, Tamil Nadu's batsmen went for some batting practice and Karthik shone with a 157-ball 152 that had 19 fours and two sixes in it.

Anirudha Srikkanth (81), son of former India captain and current chief selector K Srikkanth, and Arun Kartik (19) added 66 runs for the opening pair before Alok Sahoo dismissed the latter.

Abhinav Mukund (9) did not last long either but his exit brought in Karthik, who, in Srikkanth's company, went after the Orissa bowlers.

Srikkanth looked good for his ton but the youngster fell 19 runs away from the mark. His 93-ball 81 had 12 fours in it.

Tamil Nadu were 379 for eight at stumps.

For Orissa, Dhiraj Singh claimed three for 122, while Sahoo (2/56) and Rakesh Mohanty (2/79) got two apiece.

Brief scores:
Tamil Nadu: 361 & 375 for 8.
Orissa: 327.

Mumbai bag 3 points from draw with Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Ambati Rayudu (79) and Abhinav Kumar (49) helped Hyderabad force a draw, but defending champions Mumbai walked away with three points thanks to the massive 255-run first innings lead they had taken in the Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match that concluded on Friday.

Overnight 63 for one, Hyderabad ended the final day on 276 for six in reply to Mumbai's mammoth first innings total of 521.

Opener Shashank Nag, who was on 22 at the draw of stumps on Thursday, completed his half century and put together a 42-run partnership for the third wicket with Amol Shinde (18).

After Shashank became Iqbal Abdullah's first of the three victims on a personal score of 57, Rayudu and Abhinav joined hands to steady the innings, combining for 113 runs.

Abhinav's two-hour toil, however, ended in heartbreak as Abhishek Nayar castled him just one run short of his half century.

Rayudu, meanwhile, struck 10 fours in his 153-ball knock before being caught by Wasim Jaffer off Abdulla's bowling.

Ibrahim Khaleel (1) and Syed Quadri (11) saw through the remainder of the day to help the hosts grab the lone point on offer.

Brief Scores:
Mumbai: 521 declared
Hyderabad: 266 and 276 for six (P Shashank Nag 57, Ambati Rayudu 79, Iqbal Abdulla 3/72).

UP, Maharashtra in thrilling draw

Riding on brilliant batting displays by Parvinder Singh and Piyush Chawla, Uttar Pradesh came close to an improbable victory before falling short by 31 runs as their Ranji Trophy Group B match against Maharashtra ended in a draw on Friday.

Resuming at the overnight score of 42 for no loss, UP ended the day on 391 for the loss of seven wickets, falling short of the victory target of 422 by 31 runs.

Parvinder and Chawla came together when it seemed all over for UP, struggling at 233-5, but the duo added a quickfire 103 runs in 20.2 overs for the sixth wicket to keep the visitors in the hunt.

Parvinder, who had earlier added 67 runs for the fifth wicket with Shivkant Shukla (22), completed a deserving century, before being castled by left-arm tweaker K Adhav for 100. His knock was studded with 13 fours and one six and came off 190 balls.

After Parvinder's dismissal, the visitors, who conceded a first innings lead of 84 runs, needed 87 runs in about 16 overs but failed to complete the job and had to be content with one point.

Chawla was unbeaten on 82 (101 balls, 4x8, 6x3).

Earlier, UP enjoyed a good start as openers Praveen Kumar (42) and Tanmay Srivastava (45) added 89 runs in 18.3 overs. However, once Praveen was dismissed, Srivastava, Suresh Raina (9) and skipper Mohd Kaif (20) followed without much addition to the score, derailing the visitors' chase.

Brief scores:
Maharashtra 292 & 338/9d
Uttar Pradesh 208 & 391/7

Railways beat Gujarat by innings and five runs

Valsad: Brilliant bowling by skipper Murali Kartik and pacers Santosh Saxena and Sanjay Bagar saw Railways register their first victory in the Ranji Trophy, as they thumped Gujarat by an innings and five runs in a Group A match at the Sardar Patel Stadium.

Kartik (4-75)and Saxena (3/54) together wiped out Gujarat's top and middle order while Bangar (2/42) got rid of the tail, ending the hosts' second innings at 295, after Railways had taken a mammoth first innings lead of 300 runs.

Niraj Patel, who resumed the day at the overnight score of 40, went on to complete a century but was soon caught by Kartik off Saxena for a well-made 102. His innings was studded with 13 fours.

Skipper Parthiv Patel too scored a fifty but was dismissed for 52, exposing the weak Gujarat middle order against the disciplined bowling of the visitors.

Wickets kept falling at regular intervals as the middle and lower order crumbled under the pressure. Gujarat, who were well-placed at 216 for 2 at one stage, were bowled out for 295.

This is the second consecutive innings defeat for Gujarat, the first being against Punjab.

Railways bagged six points (5+1 bonus) from the game.