The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Semifinalists spotted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 29, 2007
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Semifinalists spotted

Chennai: Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Sourashtra and Baroda entered the semifinals of the Ranji Trophy cricket championship, while defending champion Mumbai has been knocked out.

In final round of the super league matches on Friday, Delhi defeated Tamil Nadu by eight wickets in Chennai, Uttar Pradesh beat host Hyderabad by 132 runs, Saurashtra gained the first innings lead over Mumbai in Mumbai and home team Baroda batted out the other contenders.

Delhi and Saurashtra finished with 23 points each in Group ‘A.’ Both teams had three outright wins, but Delhi topped the group on better quotient.

Uttar Pradesh and Baroda ended with 19 points each but the former, with three, had one victory more.

In the semifinals, Uttar Pradesh meets Saurashtra in Vadodara, while Delhi takes on Baroda in Indore.

The moment Delhi defeated Tamil Nadu outright, Mumbai’s pursuit for the lead over Saurashtra became meaningless. However, A.M. Rahane (149) and A. Muzumdar (187) appeared to be salvaging some pride for Mumbai, chasing 485, when the host lost its way.

Mumbai was eventually dismissed for 463 with the in-form left-arm paceman S. Jobanputra claiming a five-for.

Paceman Praveen Kumar (six for 65) bowled Uttar Pradesh to victory over Hyderabad. For the host, Ravi Teja remained unbeaten on a defiant 133.

Karnataka missed out on a semifinal berth, but finished on a rousing note, outplaying Maharashtra by an innings and 129 runs at Ratnagiri.

Paceman Vinay Kumar and left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi claimed six and four wickets as the host was bowled out for 140 in its second innings.

At Delhi Gujarat defeated Madhya Pradesh and qualified for next season’s super league.

The scores:

At Mumbai: Saurashtra 484 drew with Mumbai 463 in 148.3 overs (A.M. Rahane 149, A. Muzumdar 187, R. Sharma 41, A. Nayar 41, S. Jobanputra five for 116). Points: Saurashtra 3; Mumbai 1.

At Vadodara: Baroda 255 & 424 for nine in 119 overs (A. Bilakhia 49, P. Shah 148, R.V. Pawar 91) drew with Orissa 294. Orissa 3; Baroda 1.

At Ratnagiri: Maharashtra 276 & 140 in 40.1 overs (Y. Venugopala Rao 56, R. Vinay Kumar six for 38, S. Joshi four for 18) lost to Karnataka 545 for nine decl. Karnataka 6; Maharashtra 0.

At Hyderabad: Uttar Pradesh 336 & 294 for three decl. bt Hyderabad 193 & 305 in 82.2 overs (A.S. Yadav 42, A. Shinde 43, D.B. Ravi Teja 133 not out, P. Kumar six for 65). U.P. 5; Hyderabad 0.

Plate semifinals (five-day match): Kerala 357 & 249 for seven in 60.5 overs (R.V. Gomez 101, M.A. Sebastian 70) vs. Railways 402 in 170.5 overs (H.D. Rawle 66, S. Sanyal 115, M. Rawat 77).

At Delhi: Gujarat 192 & 265 bt Madhya Pradesh 93 & 205 (J. Saxena 66, S.K. Trivedi six for 61).

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