Mumbai made it to their first Ranji Trophy final in three seasons even though they were denied an outright victory after fighting centuries from Madhya Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha and Harpreet Singh on Day5 of the semi-final in Cuttack, on Wednesday.
Chasing a mammoth 571-run target in a little more than four sessions, Madhya Pradesh were 361 for five in their second innings when the game ended in a draw.
Mumbai, who entered the final on the basis of the first innings lead, will meet Saurashtra in the final, in Pune from February 24.
Resuming the day on 99 for 2, Madhya Pradesh went on to frustrate Mumbai's bowlers for 109 overs, putting up an much-improved effort than in the first innings, in which they scored 227 in reply to Mumbai's 371.
Ojha (113), who started the day on 14, ended up scoring his 15th first-class ton and the first this season. His 185-ball effort comprised 13 fours and a six.
He shared a 159-run stand with Harpreet (105), who brought up his second century of the season and ended the tournament as his team's leading run-getter with 750 runs in 15 innings.
However, it wasn’t enough to stop Mumbai from entering another final. The 40-time champions cruised through following good contributions from Suryakumar Yadav and Aditya Tare, who registered centuries on the fourth day in the team’s second innings total of 426.
Shreyas Iyer scored a 90 and 58 in the match, while another notable performance came from pacer Balwinder Sandhu, who took five wickets in the first innings.
Brief scores:
Mumbai: 371 & 426 (Aditya Tare 103, Suryakumar Yadav 115, Abhishek Nayar 73; Ishwar Pandey 3-103).
Madhya Pradesh: 227 & 361-5 in 109 overs (Naman Ojha 113, Harpreet Singh 105).
