Abdulla, Thakur help Mumbai seal quarter-final berth

Mumbai 162 (Saxena 5-66, Ankit 5-80) and 283/7 (Bista 74, Tare 45*, Abdulla 39*, Thakur 38*) beat MP 240 (Bhatia 59, Jaiswal 4-63) and 201 (Saxena 79) by three wickets
Scorecard

Mumbai scaled down 280, their highest successful chase away from home in Ranji Trophy history, against Madhya Pradesh in Indore to seal a quarterfinal berth. 19-year old Jay Bista, playing in only his second first-class game, set the tone for the chase with an aggressive 74. While they wiped out 173 in the morning session, the loss of five wickets including that of Bista and Shreyas Iyer, the highest run-getter this season, tilted the balance of the match.

When Nikhil Patil was dismissed, Mumbai were in danger of losing the match as they were reduced to 215 for 7. But Iqbal Abdulla (39) and Shardul Thakur (38) rallied together by sharing an unbroken 68-run stand to see the team through to their fourth win this season. The efforts of the duo reduced Jalaj Saxena's four-wicket burst in the second innings and match haul of 9 for 155 to second best as the game finished in the final session.

With 17 points in seven matches, MP need to beat Andhra outright at home while hoping for a host of other results to go their way if they are to secure a berth in the knockouts.

Railways 182 (Kishore 5-76) and 204 (A Yadav 62) beat Andhra 114 (K Sharma 5-30) and 123 (Bharat 32, Anureet 4-32) by 148 runs
Scorecard

Anureet Singh was the star with the ball as Railways ended a disappointing season with a 148-run over Andhra at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. Chasing 273, Andhra were bundled out for 123 in the second session, with Srikar Bharat top-scoring with 32. While Anureet ended with 4 for 32 to go with his three wickets in the first innings, Ashish Yadav, the left-arm spinner, had three scalps.

Railways added 10 runs to their overnight score of 194 for 8 before being bowled out as B Sudhakar, the left-arm spinner, finished with five wickets to throw open the possibility of another thriller. But that was nipped in the bud by the Anureet-Yadav duo as Andhra slumped to 66 for 5. As it turned out, they didn't recover from there. With 10 points in seven outings, Andhra need at least a first-innings lead in their final game to avoid being relegated to Group C.

No play was possible for the third straight day in Tirunelveli due to torrential rain and wet outfield, thereby denying both sides an opportunity to press ahead. While one point from the clash is unlikely to affect Gujarat too much, Tamil Nadu will need not just an outright win, but also a host of other results to go their way if they are to secure a knockouts berth.

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