The Hindu : Mumbai, Railways, Hyderabad and TN make semifinals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 29, 2003

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Mumbai, Railways, Hyderabad and TN make semifinals

New Delhi Dec. 28. Mumbai will meet Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad will take on Railways in the Elite semifinals of the Ranji Trophy.

After the last round of matches - only the Andhra vs Delhi duel which started a day late will spill over to Monday - Mumbai, which gained the first innings lead over Punjab at Mohali, topped Elite `A' with 22 points. Railways scored a 57-run win over host Baroda to tally 14 points.

In Elite `B', there was a three-way tie for the top place after Karnataka failed to defeat Assam by an innings, and this meant Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were level with 15 points.

Karnataka lost out since it had been beaten by both Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu. And Hyderabad was placed first because it had secured the lead over Tamil Nadu.

Rajasthan and Kerala, which could muster just four and two points in Elite `A' and `B' respectively, have been relegated.

In the Plate section, Madhya Pradesh (with 12 points) and Haryana (9) have progressed to the semifinals from group `A' and Maharashtra (14) and Orissa (14) made it from group `B'. The finalists from the Plate section will enter the Elite group next season.

R. Sathish sparkles

In Bangalore, Karnataka, which led by 190 runs in the first innings, bowled out Assam for 308, but lost three wickets before achieving the winning target of 119. The home team required to win either by an innings or by ten wickets to gain the bonus point that would have put it above Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu.

Overnight 52 for one, Assam was well served by middle-order batsman R. Sathish, who notched up a punishing hundred (100, 138b, 14x4, 2x6), while P. Das, K. Powar and S. Saravanan came up with half centuries. Paceman D. Ganesh and left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi, who had earlier made a hundred, claimed four and five wickets respectively. The writing was on the wall for Karnataka vis a vis qualification when opener J. Arun Kumar was run out for nine.

Mumbai, which garnered 22 points, the highest in both Elite groups, drew its match against Punjab in Mohali. The host, overnight 70 for five, was bowled out for 153, with pacemen S. Hazare and U. Malvi picking up five and four wickets. Determined batting by lower order batsmen C. Madan (33) and Amit Uniyal (56 not out) enabled Punjab stage a recovery of sorts from a precarious 70 for six. However, Punjab's points tally remained static on 11.

Khanolkar turns destroyer

Railways defeated Baroda by 57 runs in a thrilling duel in Vadodara. Skittled out for 103 in its second innings with paceman Shekar Joshi and left-arm spinner Valmik Buch picking up three wickets each, Railways, that set the host a target of 240, bounced back to dismiss Baroda for just 182. Off-spinner Shreyas Khanolkar provided the star turn for Railways with five for 21.

Railways thus pipped Uttar Pradesh, which ended with 13 points from seven matches. Baroda secured just four points from an equal number of matches, but was able to stay in the Elite group since Kerala suffered a defeat at the hands of Uttar Pradesh.

Resuming at 32 for one and requiring 191 more for an outright win, Kerala lost its way to be bundled out for 132, shortly after lunch. Off-spinner Nikhil Chopra produced an impressive performance for Uttar Pradesh, following up his four for 69 in the first innings with three for 24 from 27 overs in the second.

Gujarat managed to draw the Elite `B' game against Bengal in Ahmedabad thanks to centuries from opener A. Christian (103, 268b, 10x4), N.K. Patel (118, 184b, 21x4) and A. Sood (100 not out, 112b, 14x1, 1x6). The host, adrift by 300 runs, was at a strong 384 for three when the match concluded.

The scores:

Elite `A': In Mohali: Mumbai 224 & 181 for four (V.R. Mane 60, B. Thakkar 50, R. Powar 36) drew with Punjab 153 (C. Madan 33, A. Uniyal 56 not out, S. Hazare five for 45, U. Malvi four for 55). Mumbai 2; Punjab 0.

In Palakkad: Uttar Pradesh 214 & 255 bt Kerala 247 & 132 (C.M. Deepak 30, A.N. Kudua 25, N. Chopra three for 24). Uttar Pradesh 4, Kerala 0.

In Vadodara: Railways 353 & 103 (R. Ali 37, Sekhar Joshi three for 24, V. Buch three for 27) bt Baroda 217 & 182 (S. Parab 33, T. Arothe 33, S. Khanolkar five for 21). Railways 4, Baroda 0.

In Visakhapatnam: Andhra 438 (A.S. Pathak 28, K.S. Sahabuddin 30, Y. Venugopala Rao 142, M.S.K. Prasad 71, Y. Gnaneswara Rao 53, RVC Prasad 54 not out, S. Gill four for 87) vs Delhi 155 for one (Pururaj Singh 45 batting, R. Bhatia 34, V. Dahiya 71 batting).

Elite `B': In Ahmedabad: Gujarat 179 & 384 for three (A. Christian 103, N.K. Patel 118, A. Sood 100 not out, M.H. Parmar 25 not out) drew with Bengal 479. Bengal 2, Gujarat 0.

In Bangalore: Assam 285 & 308 (P. Das 56, K. Powar 51, S. Saravanan 50, R. Sathish 100, D. Ganesh four for 69, S. Joshi five for 100) lost to Karnataka 475 & 119 for three (B. Rowland 42 not out, S. Binny 25, S. Shinde 30 not out). Karnataka 4, Assam 0.

Plate `A': In Jammu: Madhya Pradesh 443 (N.V. Ojha 50, A. Khurasiya 36, D. Bundela 89, S. Abbas Ali 28, N. Patwardhan 62, H.S. Sodhi 54, S. Pandey 36, S. Khajuria five for 115, Jagtar Singh three for 98) & 190 for two (N.V. Ojha 65, S. Abbas Ali 100 not out) drew with Jammu & Kashmir 263 (Kavaljit Singh 119, A. Gupta 54, M. Dar 26. S. Pandey six for 121, N. Hirwani four for 55). M.P. 2, J&K 0.

In Jamshedpur: Tripura 187 & 233 for six (C. Sachdev 44, S. Dahad 58, T. Chanda 35, S. Khan three for 51) drew with Bihar 356. Bihar 2; Tripura 0.

Plate `B': In New Delhi: Services 268 drew with Orissa 173 for four (S. Das 100, N. Behera 25 not out, Mohammed three for 48). Services 1, Orissa 1.

In Kolhapur: Maharashtra 564 drew with Himachal Pradesh 219 (Sandeep Sharma 45, Sangram Singh 25, Rahul Phanta 49, M. Dalvi three for 39) & 392 (A. Sharma 30, Sandeep Sharma 135, Sangram Singh 70, M.S. Bisla 83, M. Dalvi seven for 93). Maharashtra 2, Himachal 0.

In Margao: Sourashtra 220 & 379 for five decl. (K. Vaghela 83, A. Kamalia 47, S.H. Kotak 118, J.N. Shah 86, P.J. Bhat 30, Jakati four for 120) drew with Goa 434 in 141 overs. Goa 2; Sourashtra 0.

In Gurgaon: Vidarbha 226 drew with Haryana 215 for eight (Jitender Singh 42, Chetan Sharma 46, I. Ganda 31, S. Khan 26, M. Rawat 29, C.E. Atram three for 28, S.R. Singh three for 42). Vidarbha 1, Haryana 1.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport

News Update

Stories in this Section

Cricket

Aussies tighten the screws

India 'A' to meet Sri Lanka in the final

Mumbai, Railways, Hyderabad and TN make semifinals

Basketball

Nishant is Uttaranchal's hero

Chess

Khumukcham keeps lead

Abhijeet, Thej maintain lead

Two players share lead

Lakshmi wins girls' title

Negi, Sethuraman continue to lead

Table Tennis

Madras retains title