Ranji Trophy round-up: Mumbai sniff semi-final berth

Mumbai pace spearhead Shardul Thakur again struck early to leave Delhi reeling at 110 for 4 in their 440-run chase on Day 4 of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final, in Cuttack, on Thursday.

After opener Akhil Hedwarkar's 161-run marathon knock, which enabled Mumbai post 450 in the second innings, the Aditya Tare-led side tore into the Delhi top-order, with Shardul, who had bagged five wickets in the first innings, accounting for two of the four Delhi victims in the second essay.

Resuming on their overnight score of 367 for 7, Mumbai’s total was boosted by valuable knocks from Shardul (20)and Harmeet Singh (30).

Left-arm spinner Manan Sharma was the most impressive Delhi bowler, claiming four wickets in his 30 overs, with an economy rate of 3.06.

Mumbai's Thakur is certainly the bowler of the five-day quarter-final. On Thursday, the pacer trapped skipper Gautam Gambhir (34) lbw and then sent back Mithun Manhas for a duck.

Medium-pacer Wilkin Mota also chipped in with two wickets, cleaning up Unmukt Chand (31) and Shivam Sharma (0).

Rajat Bhatia (25 not out) and Manan Sharma (14 not out) were battling on when stumps were drawn for the day.

Brief scores:

Mumbai: 156 & 450 in 119.4 overs (Akhil Herwadkar 161, Shreyas Iyer 82; Manan Sharma 4-92)

Delhi: 166 & 110-4 in 42 overs overs (Gautam Gambhir 34, Rajat Bhatia 25 not out; Shardul Thakur 2-43).

Karnataka virtually through after Samarth's ton

Karnataka are virtually through to the semi-finals after setting Assam a near-impossible 683 runs target in their second innings on the fourth and penultimate day of their quarter-final in Indore.

Resuming their second innings at the overnight score of 137 for 2, Karanataka rode on opener Ravikumar Samarth's (178) second first-class century, Robin Uthappa's 77 off 172 balls and Karun Nair's 49 to post 415 for five in 115 overs before declaring their second innings, thereby setting Assam an improbable target of 683 runs for an outright victory.

Assam were 32 for no loss in eight overs at stumps and still need a mammoth 651 runs to win on Friday, the final day of the match.

Pallavkumar Das was batting on 25 in the company of skipper Dheeraj Jadhav on 7.

Karnataka had already taken the upper hand in the match by notching up a lead of 267 runs in the first innings.

Invited to bat, Karnataka scored 452 all out in their first innings before bundling out Assam for a paltry 185.

Brief scores:

Karnataka: 452 & 415 for 5 decl in 115 overs (Ravikumar Samarth 178, Robin Uthappa 77; Arup Das 2-63).

Assam: 185 & 32 for no loss in eight overs.

Tamil Nadu well-placed against Vidarbha

Dinesh Karthik (64) and Vijay Shankar (82) scored half-centuries and ward off a scare caused by an inspired bowling spell by S S Bandiwar (3-31) as Tamil Nadu virtually made sure of a semi-final berth on the fourth day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Vidarbha in Jaipur.

Tamil Nadu, who scored 403 in the first innings, bundled out Vidarbha for 259 in their first essay to take 144-run lead.

Tamil Nadu were 193 for 6 in their second innings at close of play, their overall lead swelled to 337 runs, with four wickets still remaining.

At stumps on the penultimate day, M Rangarajan (3) and B Indrajith (6) were at the crease.

Earlier, resuming on 206 for 6, Vidarbha could add just

53 more runs to their overnight total before getting all.

A Ashwin Crist (3-56) and M Rangarajan (3-42) were the pick of the Tamil Nadu bowlers.

Medium pacer Bandiwar did raise Vidarbha's hopes of a comeback into the game as he jolted Tamil Nadu in the second innings by reducing them to 26 for three, but

wicketkeeper-batsman Karthik and first-innings centurion Shankar sealed their fate.

Bandiwar dismissed Murali Vijay (16) and Baba Aprajit (0) with the second and sixth ball of his second over, and then saw off Abhinav Mukund (1), to send shivers down the Tamil Nadu camp.

However, riding on Karthik's knock, off 107 balls including 10 hits to the fence, and Shankar's 82 off 146 deliveries, studded with nine fours and three sixes, Tamil Nadu wriggled out of not just a tricky situation but also open up their chances of an outright victory.

After the two batsmen got out, R Prasanna (17) carried on for a while, but just before the close of play, he also got out, but by then Tamil Nadu had already gained the upper hand with an overall lead of over 300 runs and few wickets in hand.

Brief scores:

Tamil Nadu: 403 & 193 for six in 73 overs (Dinesh Karthik 62, Vijay Shankar 82; SS Bandiwar 3-31)

Vidarbha: 259 in 105.2 overs (A Ashwin Crist 3-56, M Rangarajan 3-42).

Image: Shardul Thakur

Photo: Harish Kotian/Rediff.com