Railways hold on for draw against Bengal

Railways held on for a draw in a tense finish against Bengal, thus ensuring they got a vital three points for claiming the first-innings lead earlier in the game. Bengal had begun the day effectively 153 for 5, and a half-century from Shreevats Goswami ensured they got to a total of safety. They declared 264 ahead, giving Railways 62 overs to chase 265. Railways were in some strike in reply, falling to 75 for 5, but a stand of 97 at over 4.7 to the over between Karn Sharma and Mahesh Rawat arrested the slide. Bengal kept at it, though, even hurrying enough between balls to get in one extra over in the final hour, but Railways ended the day with two wickets to spare. Bengal will have to win their final group match, against Madhya Pradesh, to have any chance of making the knockouts; Railways can progress by claiming first-innings points and the draw against Uttar Pradesh, but, like Bengal, they also need other teams' results to go their way to make the next round.

Karnataka settled for a draw and some batting practice ahead of the the knockouts - they'll go through as Group A table-toppers - not declaring early to put pressure on UP despite a mammoth lead. UP, the only team that is out of contention for the quarter-finals in Group A, would have been relieved to have to bat out just 14 overs to take a point for the draw. UP were set a target of 715 after Karnataka batted out over 60 overs on the final day, making 215. UP made 42 for 2 before stumps were called on the match.

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