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Bahutule spins Hyderabad to their doom

Sairaj Bahutule weaved his web around the Hyderabad batsmen as Mumbai romped into the final with a massive victory at the Wankhede stadium

Wisden Cricinfo staff
16-Mar-2004
Elite Group semi-finals
Mumbai 476 (Mazumdar 51, Raju 6-139) beat Hyderabad 166 and 158 (Rayudu 53, Bahutule 6-53) by an innings and 152 runs
Scorecard
Sairaj Bahutule weaved his web around the Hyderabad batsmen as Mumbai romped into the final with a massive victory at the Wankhede Stadium. Hyderabad capitulated for just 158, to follow up their first-innings debacle, and were whipped by an innings and 152 runs. Bahutule, who engineered the collapse, finished with 6 for 53 with his legspin.
Mumbai began the day with an imposing 389 for 3 and Amol Mazumdar soon completed a confident half-century. The Hyderabad bowlers had suffered a severe mauling yesterday, with Vinayak Mane and Vinod Kambli smashing hundreds, and a total in excess of 500 was very much in sight. But they struck some vital blows this morning and restricted Mumbai to 476. Venkatapathy Raju, the left-arm spinner, picked up three important wickets and the offspinner Shivaji Yadav spun out the tail.
The Hyderabad batsmen put up a sorry show in the second innings as well. Ambati Rayudu and Anirudh Singh put on 71, but that was the only consolation in a miserable batting effort. The last six managed only 15 between them as Nilesh Kulkarni, the left-arm spinner, and Bahutule got stuck in. Rayudu also played the lone hand in the first innings, but his elegant 95 was the solitary light in a dismal batting show.
Railways 251 for 5 (JP Yadav 73*) trail Tamil Nadu 481 by 230 runs
Scorecard
Tamil Nadu tightened their grip on their semi-final at Chennai as they prised out five Railways batsmen on the third day. Chasing a daunting 482 to gain the first-innings lead, Railways went about their task in a very patient manner. Sanjay Bangar survived 255 minutes for his 47 and got them off to a solid start. But Somsetty Suresh and Ramakrishnan Ramkumar, the left-arm spinner, picked up two wickets each and put Railways in trouble at 122 for 4. But they managed to wriggle out due to Jai Prakash Yadav's unbeaten 73, which included eight fours and three sixes. But Yadav will need plenty of support from the tail, if Railways are to grab that lead.
Plate Group semi-finals
Orissa 318 and 110 for 3 (RR Parida 74) lead Madhya Pradesh 258 (Ojha 74, Patwardhan 71) by 170 runs
Scorecard
At Cuttack, the pendulum swung back Orissa's way as they sat cosily on a 170-run cushion by the end of the third day. Things had been completely different at the end of the second day, though, with Madhya Pradesh coming back well into the game. MP began the day at 132 for 2, still 186 runs behind, but they were reduced to 177 for 8 as lunch approached. Nikhil Patwardhan's 71 was largely responsible for lifting them to 258. Earlier, Naman Ojha was run out after a well-made 74. The Orissa bowling was led by Deepak Mangaraj (3 for 61) and Sanjay Satpathy (4 for 75). Orissa finished on 110 for 3 at stumps with Rashmi Ranjan Parida anchored the innings with a 145-ball 74.
Maharashtra 546 for 7 (Kanitkar 180, Jadhav 132, Satbhai 84) lead Haryana 236 by 310 runs
Scorecard
Maharashtra, as they have done in most matches this season, piled on a mammoth total at the Nehru Stadium in Pune. Hrishikesh Kanitkar hammered 180 and Satyajit Satbhai, the wicketkeeper, contributed 84 as Maharashtra went about batting Haryana completely out of the match. Kanitkar stroked 19 fours in his 498-minute innings, before he was caught behind off Gaurav Vashisht, the offspinner. Satbhai remained unbeaten at the end of a day in which Haryana were given a thorough hiding.