Jharkhand enter semis after routing Haryana

Shahbaz Nadeem's four-for and a rapid 86 from Ishan Kishan helped Jharkhand cruise into the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy. Jharkhand's previous appearance in the semi-final came in the 2004-05 plate league, and this is the first time they will play at this stage of the competition since the tournament was restructured.

Haryana had ended the fourth day with an overall lead of 59 and eight wickets in hand with the top four making important contributions. Their innings, however, unraveled quickly against Jharkhand's spinners, Nadeem and legspinner Samar Quadri, as Haryana went from 178 for 2 to 193 for 7 within 10 overs. Nadeem, who had taken seven wickets in the first innings, took his match haul to 11 wickets with 4 for 78 in the second innings and Quadri took 3 for 75. This was the second time Nadeem finished with more than 10 wickets in a match in this season.

Haryana's dismissal for 262 left Jharkhand with a target of 176. Kishan stepped up with a 61-ball 86 which included nine fours and six sixes. His partnerships with opener Anand Singh and Virat Singh both came at more than five runs an over and by the time he was dismissed in the 24th over, Jharkhand had raced to 139. They took only another seven overs to complete the chase.

Hyderabad 280 and 121 for 7 (Anirudh 40*, Gohil 5-28) need another 111 runs against Mumbai 294 and 217 (Tare 57, Lad 46, Siraj 5-52)
Scorecard

Three wickets in the last half hour of the day from left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil took Mumbai close to a win against Hyderabad who were seven wickets down and 111 away from their target of 232. Even though Mohammed Siraj's five-for kept Mumbai to 217 and Hyderabad got off to a decent start in the first 15 overs of the chase, Gohil's second five-for in as many matches made Hyderabad slide in what could have been a memorable win in a quarter-final against the defending champions.

Hyderabad opener Akshath Reddy fell early when he was caught behind off Abhishek Nayar for 1 in the fourth over. Tanmay Agarwal and No. 3 Balchander Anirudh could bat for just over 11 overs together when two quick wickets from Gohil dented the chase. Agarwal handed a return catch and captain S Badrinath fell for 1, leaving them at 45 for 3. Anirudh and Bavanaka Sandeep brought the innings back on track with a stand of 44, but Abhiesh Nayak bowled Sandeep for 25 to help Mumbai bounce back. Soon after Hyderabad crossed 100 with four wickets down, Gohil troubled the lower order with the wickets of K Sumanth (14), Mehdi Hassan (4) and Akash Bhandari (4) to slim Hyderabad's chances of winning.

Earlier, Mumbai resumed the day on 102 for 3 and extended their lead with the help of Aditya Tare's 57 and Siddhesh Lad's 46. That they could add only 115 for seven wickets was because of Siraj. Once Praful Waghela fell for 28, Siraj dismissed Tare, and Mumbai lost their last six wickets for 70 runs. Siraj finished with 5 for 52, his maiden five-for in first-class matches.

Overnight batsman Samit Gohel batted all day with a string of partners to take Gujarat to 514 for 8 against Odisha. Gohel, who started the day on 110, added another 151 runs on the fourth day to increase their lead to a massive 578 runs.

Gohel, whose previous highest score in first-class cricket was 104, reached his double-century just before tea, after Manpreet Juneja fell for 24. Gohel added 78 runs for the fifth wicket with Parthiv Patel (40) and followed that up with small partnerships with Chirag Gandhi, Rush Kalaria and Mehul Patel to take Gujarat to 453 for 8, before an unbeaten 61-run partnership with No. 10 Hardik Patel saw him move past 250 and Gujarat past 500. Left-arm spinner Dhiraj Singh, who removed Parthiv, Gandhi and Kalaria, finished the day on 5 for 139, his fourth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.