da bwin： A summary of the fourth day in the last round of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group
Cricinfo staff13-Jan-2006Points table
ScorecardBengal grabbed the chance provided by a sporting declaration by Railways and stormed into the semi-finals with a thrilling last over win. After Railways, charged by Pagnis’s ton to reach 321 for 7, declared after batting 35 overs on the final day, Bengal rode on Abhishek Jhunjhunwala’s magnificient 139 to achieve their target with a ball to spare. Bengal, set to chase 303, were propelled by a superb 217-run second-wicket partnership between Jhunjhunwala and Subhomoy Das. Railways attempted to come back through Murali Kartik who removed both the batsmen but Manoj Tiwari brought up the winning run off the penultimate ball to charge Bengal into the semi-final face-off with Baroda.
ScorecardIt took Maharashtra only four overs on the final day to wrap up a comprehensive victory over Mumbai, registering their second win in the tournament. Mumbai, though, with 16 points in seven games, have already entered the semi-finals and will be facing Uttar Pradesh. Mumbai, having resumed the day needing 71 runs, managed just five runs. Sairaj Bahutule got rid of Rajesh Verma while Munaf Patel removed Ramesh Powar and Nilesh Kulkarni, the overnight batsmen, to bring up the Maharashtra victory.
ScorecardSubramaniam Badrinath hit a breezy 82 to allow Tamil Nadu to declare at 182 for 6, giving themselves an outside chance of bowling out Delhi, but Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank Tehlan added 81 runs for the second wicket to ease Delhi – set a target of 250 – to 117 for 1 in 32 overs to register a comfortable draw at Chennai. Earlier, Rajat Bhatia, who had yesterday dashed TN’s hopes of a semi-final spot, extended TN’s agony as he added 48 runs with the tail to lift Delhi to 414 in their first innings.
ScorecardA maiden first-class century by Madhusudhan Reddy and a half century from Jasvir Singh propelled Services to 342 before Mahesh Rawat and Sumit Shara hit unbeaten half-centuries to take Haryana – set a target of 302 – to 108 for 0 in 30 overs and draw the game at the Palam A stadium in New Delhi. Amit Mishra, the legspinner, removed Reddy and Jasvir enroute to a six-wicket haul to restrict Services, overnight on 182 for 3, to 342 but couldn’t prevent a draw.
ScorecardP Kumar, promoted to open the batting, celebrated his 10-wicket haul in the match in style with a breezy 57 – his second first-class fifty – to power Uttar Pradesh, chasing 151 runs, into the semi-finals with a comprehensive eight-wicket victory over Andhra. Kumar picked up the last Andhra wicket to finish with a five-wicket haul, his third in a short six match first-class career.
ScorecardMukund Parmar steered Gujarat to their second win with a four-wicket victory over Karnataka at Ahmedabad. Gujarat, having started the final day needing 37 runs, lost three wickets but Parmar with an unbeaten 24 propelled them to their target. However, both teams missed out on the final four spot – Bengal edged past Karnataka with their thrilling win over Railways.
ScorecardBaroda wrapped up a comprehensive rout of Hyderabad inside four days at Vadodara, with Yusuf Pathan, the offspinning allrounder, bagging career-best bowling figures. Baroda, 150 for 3 overnight, were boosted by valuable knocks from Connor Williams and Kiran Powar despite a superb spell from Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner, who also picked up his best analysis. Set 371 to get, with the entire fourth day remaining, Hyderabad hardly offered a fight and folded meekly for just 150. Pathan, who had earlier bailed Baroda out of trouble with a fine 72 in the first innings, ran through the lower order with his offbreaks after Irfan Safi Pathan rocked the top order.