Ranji Trophy: Mumbai thrash Punjab to top Group A

Mumbai pipped Punjab by nine wickets, in Mumbai, on Saturday, on the fourth and final day of their concluding Ranji Trophy Elite Division league tie to rocket to the top of Group A with 25 points.

The 39-time champions, who already had a first innings lead of 204, shot out the visitors for 330 in their second essay and then surged to the target, making 132 for one with more than 10 out of the 15 mandatory overs to spare at the Wankhede Stadium.

The victory for Mumbai also knocked out Punjab from the competition.

The hosts, who had booked a berth in the last eight stage even before the start this match, now await the quarter-final draw to be made on December 26 by the Cricket Board to know their next round opponents.

Punjab's goose was as good as cooked when they, needing an outright win to qualify, lost the plot in the first innings.

Chasing 127, Mumbai lost opener Kaustubh Pawar (23) early but the second wicket pair of left-handed opener Praful Waghela and captain Wasim Jaffer hit half-centuries each to put up an unbeaten stand of 94 and guide Mumbai home to their third outright win of the season from seven matches, and maiden one at home this season.

Waghela remained unconquered on 57 with four hits to the fence and a six that heralded the home team's victory in the 24th over.

Jaffer, whose return to form has coincided with his decision to vacate the opening slot, made his second successive half-ton of the match -- 50 not out, also with the help of four boundaries and a six. He had scored 82 in Mumbai's first essay to overtake former team-mate Amol Muzumdar as the highest run-getter in Ranji Trophy.

Earlier, Punjab resumed their second innings at 203 for four and applied themselves well to put up some resistance before left-arm spinner Ankit Chavan ended their defiance with four-wicket haul for 23 runs.

Brief scores:
Punjab (1st innings) 226; 330 (M Siddhana 57, U Kaul 89; Waingankar 2/81, Chavan 4/64 v Mumbai (1st innings) 430; 132-1 (P Waghela 57, Wasim Jaffer 50)

Bengal fail to enter knock-out stage

Senior opener Arindam Das's dismissal sent speedster Ashok Dinda's brilliant 10-wicket haul go down the drain as Bengal failed to make it to the knock-out stage despite beating Baroda by nine wickets.

Needing only 34 to win, all Arindam and other opener Shreevats Goswami needed to do was score the runs without getting out. It would have meant 14 points and a better run-rate than Haryana would have ensured a safe passage into the knock-out stage.

The tragic part for Bengal was that they had the best quotient (1.163) among the six teams but Arindam put paid to all the hardwork put in by Dinda (5/66 & match haul of 10/162) and Sourav Sarkar (4/32).

Starting the day at 103 for five, Dinda and Sarkar demolished the Baroda lower-order to dismiss hosts for 139 leaving a target of 34.

The positives for Bengal this season has obviously been the performances of Dinda who took 37 wickets in six matches and Manoj Tiwary who scored 591 runs in four matches.

Brief Scores:
Baroda 284 & 139 (Ashok Dinda 5/66, Sourav Sarkar 4/32) v Bengal 390 & 34/1.

Haryana knock Gujarat out

Haryana bowlers bundled out Gujarat for a paltry 160 to register an outright victory in Surat at Lalabhai Contractor Stadium and advanced to the knock-out stage.

The visitors, by virtue of a bonus point, increased their tally to 14 and became the third team after Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu from the Group B to enter the knock-out stage.

Gujarat, meanwhile, have been relegated to the Plate Division after they managed to earn just eight points from the tournament and finished at the bottom.

Chasing a stiff target of 300 to win on the last day, Gujarat resumed from overnight 34 for one but lost opener Jasal Karia (19) in the second over of the day to Ashish Hooda.

Harshal Patel, who, on Friday accounted for the wicket of

Priyank Panchal, struck a vital blow to send Parth Parikh back to the hut to leave the hosts reeling at three for 47.

For Haryana, skipper Amit Mishara and Jayant Yadav shared three wickets apiece.

Brief scores:
Haryana 207 & 321 for five v Gujarat 228 & 160 all out in 64 overs (Bhargav Merai 47; Amit Mishra 3/25, Jayant Yadav 3/37).

Tamil Nadu manage draw against Madhya Pradesh

Tamil Nadu drew with Madhya Pradesh, in Chennai, to pocket 20 points and remain on top of Group B.

Both Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh had booked a berth in the last eight stage even before the start this match.

While Tamil Nadu gained three points by the virtue of the first innings lead to make it 20 points, Madhya Pradesh finished on 17 (including one point from this match) points in the seven-team Group.

Having scored 486 and taken a 197-run first innings lead after dismissing Madhya Pradesh for 289 in their first innings, Tamil Nadu resumed, on Friday, on 30 for two in their second innings.

The hosts reached 208 for nine when the match was called off in the very first mandatory over at the fall of the ninth wicket of Jagannathan Kaushik (4).

Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik was adjudged the Man-of-the-Match.

Brief Scores:
Tamil Nadu 486 & 208 for 9 (Yo Mahesh 58, Malolan Rangarajan 48; Amarjeet Singh 4/46, Ishwar Pandey 3/36) v MP (1st innings) 289 all out (Zafar Ali 98, Jalal Saxena 43; J Kaushik 3/48).

Karnataka enjoy run feast as UP fail to advance

Karnataka skipper Ganesh Satish (190), Stuart Binny (189) and Amit Verma (102) made merry at the JNNRC grounds in Shimoga as Uttar Pradesh failed to advance to the knockout stage.

Resuming at their overnight 158 for two, Karnataka, riding on two significant partnerships, ran up a mammoth second innings total of 561 for five.

Though Uttar Prtadesh earned three points for clinching the first-innings lead, they failed to qualify from Group A.

Mumbai, Karnataka and Rajasthan made it to the knockout stage from the group.

Satish was cog around which the Karnataka second innings revolved. Accused of not converting good starts in the previous matches, Satish played himself into form, batting close to nine hours while consuming 367 deliveries.

Satish raised 179 runs (221 minutes) with Verma for the third wicket. His association with Stuart Binny produced a rollicking 253 runs (198 minutes, 287 balls).

C M Gautam also joined the Christmas eve party, scoring an unbeaten 30. R P Singh and Imtiyaz Ahmed shared four wickets between them.

Brief scores:
Karnataka 314 and 561/5 (Ganesh Satish 190, Stuart Binny 189, Amit Verma 102; v Uttar Pradesh (Ist innings) 419 all out in 116.4 overs.