Uttar Pradesh beat Andhra by eight wickets on the fourth and final day to enter the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy from the Elite Group B league, on Friday.

UP earned four points from the match in Ananthapur to take its tally to 13 points from six matches.

Andhra, after following-on, were all out for 307 in their second essay. They had compiled 208 in the first innings in reply to Uttar Pradesh first innings of 365.

The visitors made the required 156 runs in 32 overs, with eight wickets to spare, in the first session on the final day.

The hosts on the other hand ended up with seven points after the six-round league phase.

Resuming at 292 for 9, Andhra's second innings ended quickly with Isreal Raju succumbing to all-rounder Praveen Kumar (5) while the bravado of Kalyankrishna earned him 40 runs as the team folded up at 307.

Chasing an easy target of 151 to win, the Uttar Pradesh batsmen went for big hits from the beginning, with opener Praveen Kumar blasting a fiery 57, inclusive of four hits to the fence and one huge six, and adding 75 runs with Shivkant Shukla (26).

Spinner Mohd. Faiq claimd both the wickets, but UP skipper Mohd. Kaif and seasoned Suresh Raina took the team past winning target with out any further damage.

Mohd Kaif, who scored 25, inclusive of one six and two fours, and Suresh Raina, 44, seven fours and one six, were unbeaten when the winning bugle was sounded at 156.

Scorecard

Uttar Pradesh (1st innings): 365

Andhra (1st innings): 208

Andhra (2nd innings):

Andhra (2nd innings): (following on)
MSK Prasad c Piyush Chawla [Images] b Zaidi 10
L Reddy c Srivastava b Kumar 13
Y Gnaneswara Rao lbw Zaidi 0
A Rayudu c Amir Khan b Srivastava 49
Y Venugopal Rao c Amir Khan b Kumar 8
B Singh run out (Shamshad) 1
K Sahabuddin lbw Shamshad 84
A Varma c Amir Khan b Kumar 58
M Faiq c Amir Khan b Kumar 26
D Kalyankrishna not out 40
I Raju b Kumar 5.
Extras: (lb 2, w 1, nb 10) 13
Total: (all out, 73.2 overs, 300 mins) 307

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-10, 3-53, 4-61, 5-72, 6-96, 7-210, 8-258, 9-275, 10-307.

Bowling: AW Zaidi 20-3-67-2, Srivastava 13-4-51-1, Kumar 21.2-3-87-5 (10nb, 1w), Piyush Chawla 13-0-67-0, Shamshad 6-2-33-1.

Uttar Pradesh (2nd innings): (target: 151 runs)
P Kumar c sub (G Elaizar) b Faiq 57
S Shukla st Prasad b Faiq 26
M Kaif not out 25
S Raina not out 44
Extras: (lb 1, w 1, nb 2) 4
Total: (2 wickets, 32 overs, 138 mins) 156

Did not bat: R Shamshad, G Pandey, Amir Khan, P Chawla, J P Yadav, A Zaidi, S Srivastava.

Fall of wickets: 1-75, 2-96.

Bowling: Sahabuddin 10-1-41-0, Kalyankrishna 9-0-42-0 (1w), Raju 2-0-7-0, Faiq 7-1-41-2 (2nb), Singh 4-0-24-0.