Hyderabad rout Railways at Secunderabad

Left-arm quick S Vishnuvardhan claimed a career-best haul of 6-55 to propel Hyderabad to a thumping nine-wicket win over Railways in an Elite Group sixth round match that ended at Secunderabad on Monday.

Railways, who after being asked to follow-on, were 71/0 at the end of the second day's play found the task of saving the match too onerous on the third.

The first to go was opener Shreyas Khanolkar, who had batted magnificently on Sunday. He added just two runs to his overnight score of 51 before falling to Vishnuvardhan. Tejinder Pal Singh, who came in next, put up a brief resistance in the company of the other opener, Amit Pagnis. But once the duo were dismissed - Singh for 36 and Pagnis for 31 - the Railways innings began to crumble.

Murali Kartik (64) and Harvinder Singh (52) led a late-order fightback, but even their heroics could only gain Railways, who were dismissed for 290, a 66-run overall lead.

Hyderabad, needing just 67 to complete the rout, went on to achieve the target with ease; opener Daniel Manohar scoring 46 of these of just 54 balls while remaining unbeaten.

In another sixth round match at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi, the hosts continued their impressive fightback, setting Bengal a victory target of 339.

The hosts, who resumed at 198-1, lost overnight not out batsman Gautam Gambhir for 96 in the morning. It proved an uphil struggle for the rest of the batsmen from there on. But with No 3 Varun Kumar chipping in with 34 and Sarandeep Singh making 33, Delhi were able to declare their second innings at 343/7. For Bengal, R Basu and Utpal Chatterjee claimed three wickets each.

Needing 339 to win, Bengal were 2/0 when stumps were drawn on the penultimate day.

At the Nehru Stadium, Guwahati, Assam, who resumed on 77/1, reached 304/5 at the end of the third day of their match against Tamil Nadu. Kiran Powar, who made 96, SB Saikia, who made 63, and NH Bordoloi, who made 53, were the batting stars for Assam on the day. All is then set for an intriguing final day with Assam needing 205 runs with five wickets in hand to gain the first-inninings lead.