Chennai: Tamil Nadu's dismal Ranji season ended on Friday at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium after its seventh round Elite `A' match against Delhi meandered expectedly to a draw.

The home side had begun the match needing an outright win and a bonus point to make good a slim possibility of entering the knockout stage.

The teams that made it to the semifinals are Mumbai, Bengal, Baroda and Uttar Pradesh.

Tamil Nadu coach Bharat Arun said it was "very disappointing," when asked to review the season. "Our bowling — especially the spin department — needs to be looked at. There is a good crop of medium-pacers, but the spin department except for Aashish Kapoor is thin."

Delhi's first innings ended on the final day at 414, 67 behind Tamil Nadu.

Rajat Bhatia was finally dismissed for 185 — an innings that has resurrected his career.

The host looked for quick runs in the second innings, and made 182 for six in 33 overs, thanks to a run-a-ball 82 from skipper S. Badrinath and an unbeaten 46 from left-hander S. Sharath

Delhi plays it safe

Set 250 to win in 39 overs, Delhi chose not to go for the target and finished with 117, losing opener Aakash Chopra in the process. "Our only chance was if they went for the target," said Arun on whether he thought 39 overs were sufficient to winkle out 10 Delhi batsmen.

"But with Bengal going for the target (against Railways), they did not," he said.

For Delhi, which was in danger of relegation, the draw was satisfactory. Railways's loss to Bengal meant it, and not Delhi, would slide to the Plate division.

At Kolkata, Bengal, which was in a three-way tie with Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for a semifinal spot, pulled off a sensational five-wicket victory over Railways to waltz into the semifinals.

Set a target of 303 in 57 overs for victory on the fourth day track, Bengal rode on Abhishek Jhunjhunwala's masterly 139 (135b, 135m, 20x4, 1x6) — his maiden century in the National championship — and his 217-run association for the second wicket with Subhamoy Das (83, 122b, 190m, 6x4, 1x6).

Mini collapse

Despite a mini collapse, Bengal managed to achieve the target with one ball to spare, thanks to up and coming Manoj Tiwari whose 25-ball 27 clinched the issue.

The victory gave Bengal four points for a total of 13 to move up as the Elite group `A' runner-up behind Mumbai (16 points).

Earlier, Railways resuming on 140 for two, declared the innings closed at 321 for six in 75 overs. Amit Pagnis, overnight unbeaten 76, went on to get 103 (144b, 214m, 10x4).

Other sizeable contributions from S. Khanolkar (47) and Yere Goud (55) helped Railways go past the 300-run mark. Pagnis and Khanolkar added 93 runs for the fourth wicket.

Semifinals on Jan. 20

In the four-day semifinals beginning on January 20, Bengal would take on Elite group `B' topper Baroda at home. The defeat ensured the defending champion's relegation to the Plate division. Railways ended with just four points.

The scores:

Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: 481 for six decl.

Delhi — 1st innings: A. Chopra c Kaarthick b Vignesh 1, S. Dhawan b Kapoor 16, M. Tehlan lbw b Kapoor 25, M. Manhas b Kapoor 89, A. Jain c Kapoor b Jesuraj 8, R. Bhatia c Kapoor b Ramkumar 185, V. Kumar (run out) 1, K. Rawat c Kaarthick b Jesuraj 2, C. Nanda b Ramkumar 24, A. Bhandari st Kaarthick b Sriram 20, Y. Sachdeva (not out) 1; Extras (b-9, lb-11, nb-22) 42. Total (in 135.4 overs) 414.

Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-34, 3-69, 4-117, 5-211, 6-213, 7-228, 8-330, 9-412.

Tamil Nadu bowling: R. Jesuraj 26-8-49-2, G. Vignesh 12-1-53-1, A. Kapoor 48-5-125-3, R. Ramkumar 35-2-115-2, S. Vidyut 6-0-25-0, S. Badrinath 3-0-13-0, S. Sriram 5.4-0-18-1.

Tamil Nadu — 2nd innings: S. Vidyut c Nanda b Bhandari 2, S. Sriram lbw b Rawat 1, S. Badrinath c Bhandari b Nanda 82, D. Kaarthick c Varun Kumar b Jain 26, H. Badani (run out) 5, S. Sharath (not out) 46, G. Vignesh c Bhandari b Nanda 7, K. Shri Vasudevadas (not out) 9; Extras (b-1, lb-2, nb-1) 4. Total (for six wickets decl. in 33 overs) 182.

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-7, 3-61, 4-73, 5-148, 6-163.

Delhi bowling: K. Rawat 4-0-18-1, A. Bhandari 5-0-38-1, C. Nanda 12-0-67-2, A. Jain 3-0-8-1, Y. Sachdeva 9-0-48-0.

Delhi — 2nd innings: S. Dhawan (not out) 56, A. Chopra c Badani b Kapoor 16, M. Tehlan (not out) 36. Extras (b-6, nb-3) 9. Total (for one wicket in 32 overs) 117.

Fall of wicket: 1-36.

Tamil Nadu bowling: R. Jesuraj 3-0-20-0, A. Kapoor 12-3-35-1, R. Ramkumar 12-3-41-0, S. Vidyut 4-2-11-0, S. Sharath 1-0-4-0.

Other scores: Elite group:

At Mumbai: Maharashtra 213 and 187 bt Mumbai 175 and 160 in 64 overs (Amol Muzumdar 46, Munaf Patel four for 42, Sairaj Bahutule four for 35). Points: Maharashtra 4, Mumbai 0.

At Ahmedabad: Karnataka 163 and 226 lost to Gujarat 247 and 143 for six in 44.5 overs (Neeraj Patel 66, N.C. Aiyappa four for 57). Gujarat 4, Karnataka 0.

At Kolkata: Railways 259 and 321 for six decl. in 75 overs (A. Pagnis 103, S. Khanolkar 47, Y. Goud 55, S.S. Paul four for 103) lost to Bengal 278 and 306 for five in 52.5 overs (S.G. Das 83, A. Jhunjhunwala 139). Bengal 4, Railways 0.

At Anantapur: Uttar Pradesh 365 and 156 for two in 32 overs (P. Kumar 57, S. Raina 44 not out) bt Andhra 208 and 307 in 73.2 overs (A.T. Rayadu 49, K.S. Shabuddin 84, A.S.K. Verma 58, D. Kalyan Krishna 40 not out, P. Kumar five for 87). U.P. 4, Andhra 0.

At New Delhi: Services 241 and 342 in 126 overs (M.P. Reddy 120, Jasvir Singh 69, A. Mishra six for 93) drew with Haryana 282 and 108 for no loss in 30 overs (Sumit Sharma 50 not out, M. Rawat 52 not out). Haryana 2, Services 0.

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