Natraj Behera scored his second century of the match as Odisha rallied to earn a draw after being forced to follow on against Mumbai, on the fourth and final day of their Group A Ranji Trophy match, in Mumbai, on Tuesday.
The visitors, who resumed on 115 for two in their second innings, 130 runs behind Mumbai's first innings total of 501, batted sensibly to deny the hosts an outright win.
Odisha were 356 for five with Natraj and Sujit Lenka (0 not out) on the crease before the match ended in a draw.
Natraj, who hit 130 in the first innings, once again showed good application as he rescued his team by scoring an unbeaten 127 off 218 deliveries, laced with 17 fours and three sixes.
Starting the day on 20, Natraj survived a drop catch when he was on 61 by Wasim Jaffer off Pravin Tambe's bowling. He made Mumbai pay big time for that missed chance as he played a key role in Odisha's survival.
Natraj also put on a solid 147-run stand with Niranjan Behera for the third wicket before the latter was dismissed in the fifth over after lunch.
Niranjan, who too got a reprieve when he was on 28, made a patient 206-ball 59. His knock comprised of nine boundaries, including the one he struck to bring up his half-century.
Still nine runs short of equalising Mumbai's total when Niranjan departed, Natraj and captain Biplab Samantray shared a 64-run partnership to take the total to 300.
Samantray, who struck two fours and a six during his 68-ball 27, got out with the score on 300 for four.
Abhilash Mallick played a cameo with a quickfire 40, which included seven fours and a six.
From 352 for five, Natraj and wicketkeeper-batsman Lenka kept the rival bowlers at bay for a couple of overs till play was called off after the mandatory overs.
The defending champions Mumbai, who were seeking their fourth outright victory, were hurt by their young side's inept bowling that was complimented by poor fielding.
Tambe, who had picked up two wickets on the third day, was unlucky not to pick more wickets as two catches were dropped off his bowling. He finished with figures of 33-8-127-2. Javed Khan, Vishal Dabholkar and Siddhesh Lad took wicket a piece.
Mumbai secured three points from this match for a total of 23 points from six games, but have slipped a place from top of the table.
Odisha, meanwhile, gained a solitary point for their effort.
Brief scores:
Mumbai: 501 for nine declared (Wasim Jaffer 143, Hiken Shah 170; Basant Mohanty 3/73, Dhiraj Singh 3/117).
Odisha: 256 (Natraj Behera 130, Biplab Samatray 39; Javed Khan 4/53, Shardul Thakur 3/54) & 356 for 5 (Natraj Behera 127 not out, Niranjan Behera 59; Pravin Tambe 2/127).
Karnataka crush Punjab by 10 wickets
Gurkeerat Singh's valiant century went in vain as Karnataka humbled Punjab by 10 wickets to get seven points in their Group A Ranji Trophy match at KSCA Stadium in Hubli.
Resuming at their overnight score of 156 for five, Punjab's batting collapsed like house of cards after Gurkeerat and Gitansh Khera scored 157 and 84 respectively.
The visitors were bowled out for 361 in their second innings, leaving Karnataka to chase a modest target of 31 runs to register an outright victory. Punjab were bundled out for 174 in their first innings following which Karnataka replied with a mammoth 505 for nine declared.
The hosts chased down the motley target in just 4.5 overs with openers Mayank Agarwal and Lokesh Rahul remaining unbeaten on eight and 25, respectively.
Karnataka picked up six points for registering an outright victory and bonus one point for winning it with 10 wickets in hand. They are top of Group A with 26 points from six games, leaving Mumbai behind with 23 points in as many matches.
Earlier, Khera and Gurkeerat raised Punjab's hopes of unlikely draw as the two shared a 186-run stand for sixth wicket but once both were dismissed after striking 29 boundaries among them, Punjab lost their way.
Tailenders Manpreet Gony (14), who has one fifty under his belt in a first-class match, and Sandeep Sharma (11) could not offer any resistance after captain Vinay Kumar broke the Khera-Gurkeerat partnership.
Stuart Binny had Gurkeerat caught behind which triggered Punjab's lower-order collapse.
Brief Scores:
Punjab: 174 and 361 (Gurkeerat Singh 157, Gitansh Khera 84, Abhimanyu Mithun 3/59, HS Sharath 3/75)
Karnataka: 505/9 declared and 33/0.
Saxena, Pandey help MP take lead
Madhya Pradesh rode on pacer Ishwar Pandey's five-wicket haul and Jalaj Saxena's all-round show to take a vital first innings lead of 127 runs over Saurashtra after bowling out the visitors for 492 on the final day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match, in Indore.
Pandey scalped four wickets on Day 4 to return with figures of five for 144, while after hitting 194 with the bat, Saxena picked up three wickets for 85, including that of overnight centurion Sagar Jogiyani, with his off-spinners to help MP pocket three points from the encounter.
MP had scored 619 for eight declared in their first innings.
At the close of play on the final day, MP were 119 for two in their second innings with Saxena unbeaten on 56 and Anand Bais on 22.
Opener Satyam Choudhary (29) and Naman Ojha (1) were the two wickets to fall, with both getting run out.
Earlier, resuming at the overnight score of 362 for three, the remaining seven Saurashtra batsmen could add just 130 runs to gift away the crucial first innings lead to MP.
Jogiyani, who started the day on 137, was unlucky to miss out on a double ton as fell 10 runs short of the magic figure as he became Saxena's victim.
Thereafter, no other Saurashtra batsmen could put up a fight before the disciplined MP attack. Only skipper Jaydev Shah (21) and Aarpit Vasavada (35) offered some resistance before the visitors were bowled out in 144.1 overs.
MP pocketed three vital points, while Saurashtra had to return home with just one point.
Brief Scores:
Madhya Pradesh: 619/8 decl & 119 for two in 34 overs (Jalaj Saxena 56).
Saurashtra: 492 all out in 144.1 overs (Sagar Jogiyani 190, Sheldon Jackson 84; Ishwar Pandey 5/144, Jalaj Saxena 3/85).
Andhra, Himachal settle for a draw
Andhra settled for three points by the virtue if their first-innings lead in the Ranji Trophy Group C match against Himachal Pradesh that ended in a draw but not before some excitement as the visitors lost a clump of wickets with stumps in sight on the fourth and final day in Visakhapatnam.
Chasing an unlikely target of 345, Himachal lost a few wickets towards the end with medium pacer Gonnabattula Chiranjeevi instilling some excitement, claiming three wickets in the space of three overs.
But Himachal's lower order somehow survive until stumps were drawn with their score on 154 for five.
Until the mini collapse was triggered, Himachal were pretty well placed, riding on half-centuries from Paras Dogra (64) and Prashant Chopra (63).
Earlier, Andhra resumed their second innings on 39 for one and the two overnight batsmen -- Prasanth Kumar (51) and Murumulla Sriram (101 not out) -- scored a half-century and an unbeaten hundred, respectively.
Sriram was the key batsman, who struck 10 fours enroute to his maiden first-class ton and was involved in two vital partnerships -- 84 for the second wicket with Prasanth and 109 for the third wicket with Chiranjeevi, who was also useful with the bat.
Chiranjeevi struck six fours and a six in his 54 before Andhra declared at 232 for three.
Brief scores:
Andhra: 417 and 232 for three decl (Murumulla Sriram not out 101, GK Chiranjeevi 54).
Himachal Pradesh: 305 and 154 for five (Paras Dogra 64, Prashant Chopra 63)
Merai, Venugopal hit centuries to give Gujarat three points
Bhargav Merai (198) missed out on his maiden double-hundred by a mere two runs while Venugopal Rao struck 111 as Gujarat produced a fine batting display to overhaul Haryana's first innings total and earn three points from their drawn Ranji Trophy Group A match in Motera, Ahmedabad.
Gujarat finished on 578 for eight to take a five-run lead in reply to Haryana's first innings score of 573 for 6 declared on the fourth and final day.
Resuming the day on 314 for four, with Merai on 115 and Rao on 64, Gujarat added 264 runs in 75 overs and lost four wickets at the Sardar Patel Stadium.
The home side eased past 400 as Merai crossed 150 and Rao scored his 14th first-class hundred. But their massive 256-run stand ended when Rao was trapped lbw for 111. Manpreet Juneja did not survive for too long as he also fell to off-spinner Jayant Yadav, leaving the score at 437 for 6, still 136 behind.
Akshar Patel steadied the innings as Merai headed towards his double-ton, but fell short when he was bowled by Amit Mishra.
Akshar and Rakesh Dhurv then took Gujarat past 500 but Mishra halted their charge by getting rid of Dhurv for 17. Bhatt, who had injured himself while fielding on the second day and had not taken the field since, joined Akshar with two fractured fingers. He battled for more than an hour, faced 56 deliveries and scored a vital 26 runs which took Gujarat past Haryana's 573 after which he was forced to retire hurt.
Akshar stayed unbeaten on 69 off 98, which featured nine fours.
Gujarat collected three points by virtue of taking the first innings lead while Haryana got one.
Brief Score:
Gujarat: 578 for eight (Merai 198, Rao 111, Akshar Patel 69 not out; Amit Mishra 4/169)
Haryana: 573 for 6 declared.
Beigh helps J&K crush Assam
Pacer Samiullah Beigh grabbed four wickets in an impressive bowling spell on the fourth and final morning to set up Jammu and Kashmir's nine-wicket victory over Assam in Jammu.
Beigh claimed all the four Assam wickets that fell on the fourth and final day to end with excellent figures of six for 42, his first five-wicket haul this season.
Riding on Beigh's early onslaught, J&K skittled Assam out for 195 before the home side batsmen chased down the target of 32 runs to give them their fourth win in six games.
Assam resumed the day on 156 for six, lasted just 10.4 overs and they managed to add just 39 runs losing four wickets in the process.
J&K achieved the target in 6.2 overs but lost opener Adil Rishi (13), thus wasting their chance of claiming the extra bonus point. They collected six points from their outright win while Assam got none.
Brief Score:
Jammu & Kashmir: 427 and 32 for 1 beat Assam 263 and 195 (Abu Nechim Ahmed 50; Samiullah Beigh 6/42) by 9 wickets.
Hyderabad earn three points against Goa
Amol Shinde grabbed three wickets as Hyderabad bowled out Goa for 465 and earned three points courtesy of their 49-run lead in the Group C Ranji Trophy match which ended in a draw on the fourth and final day, in Porvorim, Goa.
Resuming at their overnight score of 273 for five, Goa's tailenders provided some resistance before Shinde struck bowled H Gadekar for 26.
Shadab Jakati (80) and D W Misal (57) defied the visitors and looked they would take first innings lead before Alfred Absolem had well-settled D W Misal caught behind by wicketkeeper Habeeb Ahmed for 57.
Jakati, who put on 101 runs for the seventh wicket with Misal, followed him when he was caught and bowled by Sandeep for 80 to end Goa's challenge.
Shinde then struck in quick succession to dismiss A R Yadav (29) and B A Mangaldas (0) to bowl out Goa for 465.
Shinde, who was the most successful bowler, claimed three wickets, while Alfred Absolem and B P Sandeep took one wicket each.
In reply, Hyderabad were 12 for no loss in their second innings when play ended with T Suman and P A Reddy remaining unbeaten on 1 and 10 respectively.
Hyderabad took their tally to 15 points from six matches. Goa, who got one point from the draw, took their tally to 16 points from six matches.
Image: R Vinay Kumar
Photograph: Pal Pillai/Getty Images
