Report

Hyderabad hold on to qualify

Hyderabad's nervy draw courtesy captain Badrinath, Sachin Baby's mammoth double ton and Himachal's draw the highlights from the final round of Group C matches

File photo - S Badrinath saw Hyderabad through to stumps to secure their qualification to the knockout stage  •  Sivaraman Kitta

File photo - S Badrinath saw Hyderabad through to stumps to secure their qualification to the knockout stage  •  Sivaraman Kitta

Hyderabad held on after being aided by a fog delay to draw their match against Andhra in Lucknow and seal the second knockout qualification spot from Group C.
Hyderabad had gone to stumps on the third day on 13 for 1 after a bold declaration by Andhra - who would have qualified with an outright win - had set them a target of 219. However, the entire first session was lost due to fog on the fourth day and only 40 overs were possible after that. It wasn't enough for Andhra to force a result even though they made a match of it. by picking five wickets. Hyderabad then shut shop and walked away with the one point they needed to qualify. They were reduced to 36 for 5, but captain S Badrinath and wicketkeeper K Sumanth batted together for nearly 20 overs, and added as many runs, to avoid further damage and take them through.
Himachal Pradesh's spinners, led by offspinner Gurvinder Singh, took eight wickets between them to dismiss Goa for 286 and set up a seven-wicket win on the last day of the group stage in Mumbai.
Gurvinder took four wickets, including that of Darshan Misal (119) who scored his second century of the match. Sumiran Amonkar (55) was the only other batsman to make a significant contribution, but he had fallen in the second over of the day that Goa had begun on 99 for 2. They lost regular wickets as Bipul Sharma (2-36) and Mayank Dagar (2-77) joined Gurvinder in bowling 60.4 of the 84.4 overs Goa batted before being bowled out for 286, setting HP 139 to win.
HP went about the chase in similar batting fashion to their first innings - striking at over five runs per over - and chased it down in the 28th over. Paras Dogra led their chase with an unbeaten 55 off 69 balls.
Amandeep Khare scored his second century of the match as Chhattisgarh ended their debut season with first-innings points against Jammu & Kashmir in Gwalior. Khare, who was also making his Ranji debut this season, finished as Chhattisgarh's top-scorer.
Chhattisgarh had ended the third day on 101 for 1 having taken a first-innings lead of 128. Their overnight pair of Khare and Manoj Singh (85) extended their partnership to 161, before Manoj was dismissed by Parvez Rasool. Chhattisgarh struck at nearly five runs per over in their bid to set J&K a decent target. Khare completed his century off 79 balls and was unbeaten on 117 off 91 when Chhattisgarh declared on 264 for 3. Set 393, J&K held on for 78 overs, thanks mainly to half-centuries from Shubham Khajuria (72), Pranav Gupta (65) and Rasool (66), three of only four batsmen to score in double digits. Left-arm spinners Sumit Ruikar and Ajay Mandal took three wickets each for Chhattisgarh.
Kerala batted through all 64 overs of the day without losing a wicket to secure first-innings points against Services in Delhi.
Kerala began the day on 271 for 5, needing 52 more to get past Services' first-innings total of 322. Overnight batsmen Sachin Baby and Akshay Chandran put on an unbroken 257-run sixth-wicket partnership as both notched up career-best scores. Baby, who had begun the day on 112, was unbeaten on 250 at, while Chandran (102*) raised his maiden century just before Kerala declared on 518 for 5 and stumps were drawn.