Mumbai sneaked into the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy by virtue of their first innings lead in their last Group A league match against holders Karnataka, which ended in a draw at the Wankhede stadium on Monday.
Going into the final day of the four-day game after taking a small but vital 21-run lead over the visitors, the forty-time champions had one eye on three other games in the same group before advancing as the third best team with a tally of 20 points.
Karnataka, already assured of a berth in the last eight before the start of the game, finished on top of the Group with 33 points, including the one point earned in this match, while Tamil Nadu finished second with 29 points after defeating Baroda by seven wickets in the latter's backyard.
The result of two other games held concurrently in the group -- Madhya Pradesh against Bengal at Indore and Railways against Uttar Pradesh at Delhi -- also helped Mumbai's entry into the last eight.
The quarterfinals have been scheduled at Lahli, Jaipur, Indore and Cuttack from February 15-19.
On Monday, Mumbai wanted to make some quick runs and set a target for Karnataka but lost wickets at regular intervals against the double spin attack of off spinner Udit Patel and leg spinner Shreyas Gopal before declaring their second innings at 223 for eight.
Suryakumar Yadav remained unbeaten on 77 (7X4 2X6), while first innings centurion Nikhil Patil scored 48. It left Mumbai with 39 overs to take all 10 second innings wickets of Karnataka, who needed 245 to win the game outright.
The game was drawn with the visitors on 110 for one with Robin Uthappa (44) and Kunal Kapoor (50) at the crease.
Brief scores:
Mumbai: 436 & 223 for eight decl. (Suryakumar Yadav 77 not out, Nikhil Patil 48; Udit Patel 4/55, Abhimanyu Mithun 2/37).
Karnataka: 415 & 110 for one (Robin Uthappa 44 not out, Kunal Kapoor 50 not out).
Points: Mumbai 3; Karnataka 1.
Image: Mumbai's Suryakumar Yadav raises his bat after scoring a fifty.
Photo: PTI
