Report

Railways shock Delhi by 22 runs

Round-up of the fourth day of the sixth round of the Ranji Trophy Super League

Group A

Railways shocked Delhi at the Roshanara Club Ground, as the home side faltered in their chase of 136 to be shot out for 113. Delhi needed 88 runs on the final day with six wickets remaining. But on the seaming surface, runs were hard to come by. Gaurav Chabra and Rajat Bhatia, the last pair of specialist batsmen, were caught off edges at slip and gully as Delhi slipped to 76 for 6. Sumit Narwal, the seamer with nine wickets in the match, refused to give in, hammering five fours in his 39. But Railways chipped away at the other end, removing Puneet Bisht and Pradeep Sangwan. When Narwal was caught behind in an attempt to run the ball to third man to retain the strike, it was all but over for Delhi. Left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra was run out two deliveries later to give Railways a famous victory over their city rivals.
"After the first two wickets, we started believing that if we could get one or two more, there was a chance that we could do it," an elated Abhay Sharma, the Railways coach, told ESPNcricinfo. "We had also come close to beating Mumbai, but they somehow managed to sneak through." Only two points separate third-placed Delhi and sixth-placed Railways now with the last round remaining. The game against defending champions Mumbai has become crucial for Delhi, while Railways have put themselves in with an outside chance to make the knockouts.
Manoj Tiwary's unbeaten double-century and offspinner Saurasish Lahiri's maiden century took Bengal past Saurashtra in Rajkot. Bengal needed 128 runs with five wickets in hand to grab three points, with Tiwary resuming on 116. Laxmi Shukla hit an aggressive 45 before being stumped. Bengal were 67 runs short at that stage, but Tiwary and Lahiri shut Saurashtra out, batting almost throughout the day in a 209-run partnership. Tiwary was at the crease for almost ten hours, remaining unbeaten on 233, his highest first-class score. Lahiri batted for 202 deliveries at No 8, falling in what proved to be the last over of the match.
Ishwar Choudhary's maiden five-wicket haul gave Gujarat a comfortable first-innings lead against Assam in Guwahati. Seamer Amit Singh had dismissed Tarjinder Singh to give Gujarat the breakthrough in the day's 15th over. But Assam captain Amol Muzumdar and Gokul Sharma kept Gujarat at bay, adding 93 runs in a busy fifth-wicket stand. Just when it seemed that Assam would bat out the day, Amit got the big wicket of Muzumdar, having him caught behind for 90. Chowdhary, the fast bowler, turned it on after that, picking up four of the remaining five wickets, including that of Gokul for 55. Assam had collapsed from 229 for 4 to be dismissed for 273.
Stung at having conceded three points, Assam responded with a burst from their fast bowlers Abu Nechim and Ranjitkumar Mali, leaving Gujarat on 0 for 3. Gujarat were struck another blow when first-innings centurion Sunny Patel had to retire hurt on 1, but they played out the remaining overs to move to fourth position behind Delhi, with an opportunity to reach the quarterfinals.
Tamil Nadu achieved their target of picking up first-innings points against Mumbai in a rain-hit draw in Chennai. K Vasudevadas and R Sathish resumed 89 runs short of Mumbai's 238, and took their side to within seven runs of taking the lead before Sathish fell on 44. Vasudevadas took Tamil Nadu past Mumbai but missed out on his century by one run, getting bowled by 18-year old left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh. L Balaji smacked four sixes in his 41 as Tamil Nadu's lower order carried on merrily, before they were dismissed for 347. Harmeet finished with 5 for 86, his best figures. Offspinner Suresh Kumar removed the Mumbai openers before the game was called off. Mumbai have already made it to the quarterfinals while Tamil Nadu are is second position.

Group B

A belated declaration came back to haunt Punjab who prised out eight Haryana wickets but ran out of overs to force an outright win in Rohtak. Rajwinder Singh, the left-arm spinner, took his best figures of 4 for 60, but Haryana finished on 220 for 8 chasing an improbable target of 378. Punjab had made a bright start with MS Gony reducing Haryana to 36 for 3, but Rahul Dewan and former India batsman Hemang Badani resisted with an 80-run partnership. Rajwinder removed both batsmen in quick succession before Sachin Rana, whose century had earlier helped Haryana avoid the follow-on, stood firm along with Pardeep Sahu for more than 20 overs. Though Rajinder struck again, Joginder Sharma played out the rest of the overs to earn a point for Haryana.
Punjab were left with three points after having batted for 17 overs in the morning, despite having an overnight lead of 289. Uday Kaul made his second half-century of the game as Punjab finally declared on 232 for 6, but it came a little too late. Fourth-placed Haryana are still in with a chance to progress to the knockouts, have a game in hand against Orissa.
Karnataka joined Mumbai in the knockouts, playing out a tame draw against Baroda in Mysore. The home side led by 390 runs going into the final day, but opted to bat on for 23 overs, eventually declaring on 391 for 8. Amit Verma (80) and Stuart Binny (70) failed to get to their hundreds, and fast bowler Vinay Kumar helped himself to an unbeaten half-century. Set an impossible target of 480, Baroda reached 151 for 3 in 55 overs before the match was called off.
Orissa took the first-innings lead against Himachal Pradesh as another rain-marred draw ensued in Cuttack. Openers Paresh Patel's half-century and useful contributions from Niranjan Behera and Biplab Samantray took Orissa past Himachal's 163 and they declared on 190 for 8. Medium-pacer Rishi Dhawan finished with his best figures of 5 for 63. Himachal reached 25 for 1 in the end, and are placed last in the group.

Group A

TeamsMatWonLostTiedDrawAbanPtsQuotientForAgainst
Mumbai
620040211.9503278/632215/83
Tamil Nadu
610050141.5202246/481878/61
Delhi
611040131.3452553/692585/94
Gujarat
611040130.6402203/902447/64
Bengal
600060120.9362332/432782/48
Railways
611040110.9422230/852283/82
Assam
60204080.7342564/892512/64
Saurashtra
60105050.6692367/683071/59

Group B

TeamsMatWonLostTiedDrawAbanPtsQuotientForAgainst
Karnataka
530020201.4412832/782091/83
Baroda
521020141.2412220/692282/88
Uttar Pradesh
511030140.9801925/771938/76
Haryana
511030120.8872155/742463/75
Punjab
60204080.9373279/932748/73
Orissa
50104080.6541869/702206/54
Himachal Pradesh
50104060.8761536/632088/75