An aggressive century by Abhishek Nayar and a vital cameo by veteran Ajit Agarkar helped hosts Mumbai edge out visitors Assam in an exciting battle for the first innings lead on the fourth and final day of the Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match in Mumbai.
Replying to Assam's 298, Mumbai made 318 in their first innings, thanks to Nayar's quick fire 122 and a useful 29 by Agarkar, who added 27 runs for the 10th wicket with last man Dhawal Kulkarni (11 not out) to help the hosts cross the visitor's total.
Assam reached 53 for three in 21 overs in their second innings before both the teams agreed for a draw.
Earlier, resuming at an overnight score of 91 for the loss of three wickets, Mumbai began well with the overnight pair of Sahil Kukreja and Nayar adding further 127 runs in about 24 overs to the tally before being separated.
The duo, who had come together when Mumbai were reeling at 47-3, added 171 runs for the fourth wicket before pacer Dhiraj Goswami disturbed Kukreja's timber. Kukreja made a crucial 76 off 161 balls with the help of 10 fours.
From here, off-spinner Arlen Konwar took over and scalped five wickets as Mumbai, who were 218-3 at one stage, slumped to 291-9 before Agarkar ensured them the three points.
Nayar was the sixth man out with the score at 265. His 122 came off 143 balls, a strike rate of over 85, with the help of 12 fours and two sixes.
For Assam, Konwar ended with figures of 5-101, while Goswami took three wickets while conceding 77 runs.
Brief scores:
Assam First Innings: 298
Assam Second innings: 53-3 (D Jadhav 21 not out; I Abdulla 3-22)
Mumbai first innings: 318 (Abhishek Nayar 122, S Kukreja 76; A Konwar 5-101, D Goswami 3-77).
Karnataka register innings and 33-run win over Orissa
Bangalore: Karnataka managed to gain a bonus point after thrashing Orissa by an innings and 33 runs on the fourth and the final day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match.
Twin centuries from Manish Pandey and CM Gautam and some fine bowling by Sunil Joshi and Abhimanyu Mithun helped Karnataka register this comprehensive victory.
After bundling out Orissa for a mere 191 in their first innings, Karnataka scored 503 in their first essay.
Orissa started on 92 for one in their second essay, still trailing the hosts by 220 runs on the final day, with plans of playing out a draw here at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.
But the visitors lost Natraj Behera (60) early on the day four morning with an addition of only 22 runs to the total.
And although Niranjan Behera (94) along with Govind Podder (13) tried to rebuild but the latter got run out to a direct hit from Sagar, after putting on a 40 plus partnership.
However, Niranjan continued to hold on to his wicket and shared another 40 plus stand with Biplab Samantray (34) before getting bowled out.
Thereafter, no other batsmen, apart from Alok Sahoo (34), could counter Karnataka bowlers, eventually getting all out for 279 to hand over the hosts an easy win and a bonus point.
Abhimanyu Mithun finished the day on four for 70, while Sreenath Aravind and Adithya Sagar chipped in with two wickets each.
Brief scores:
Orissa first innings: 191
Orissa Second Innings: 279 (Niranjan Behera 94, Natraj Behera 60; Abhimanyu Mithun 4/70).
Karnataka 1st innings: 503 (Manish Pandey 171, CM Gautam 158; Alok Sahoo 4/110, Basanth Mohanty 3/84).
Delhi, Saurashtra match drawn
Rajkot: With first two days washed out following unseasonal rains, the Ranji tie between Delhi and Saurashtra ended in a tame draw here at SCA stadium and both the teams were given a point each as first inning remained unfinished.
Saurashtra resuming at their 231 for 6 declared their inning at 354 for 9. Jaydev Shah who was batting on 43 overnight made 57 while Kamlesh Makwana contributed 52 runs.
For Delhi, Vikash Sharama was the most successful bowler taking five wickets giving away 75 runs while Pawan Suyal and Manoj Chauhan took two wickets each.
Delhi in reply made 194 for the loss of two wickets off 57 overs.
Shikhar Dhawan and Unmukt Chan made 51 and 58 runs respectively while Aditya Jain (43) and Mithun Manhas (41) remained unbeaten at the end of the day.
Brief score:
Saurashtra 1st Innings: 354 for 9 decl
Delhi 1st Innings: 191 for 2 (Shikhar Dhawan 51, Unmukt Chand 58).
Tiwary leads charge as Bengal get three points vs Gujarat
Ahmedabad: Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary led from the front with a brilliant 92 as the visitors ensured three points against Gujarat to get their floundering Ranji Trophy campaign back on track.
Bengal now have eight points from four outings as they take on the formidable Tamil Nadu in their next outing in Chennai.
Needing 274 to get three points after rain played spoilsport for the first one and half days, Tiwary (92) and last-minute inclusion Anushtup Majumdar (74) added 112 runs for the fourth wicket as Bengal scored 340 for seven when play was stopped.
Debutant Arnab Nandi also showed lot of composure as he remained unbeaten on 51.
Starting on their overnight score of 99 for two, Bengal lost Dibyendu Chakraborty (23, 120 balls, 3x4) who was bowled by Priyank Panchal having played a very slow innings.
Tiwary and Majumdar then combined well as they went to tea with a score being 211 for three.
The Bengal captain who is recovering from a bout of viral fever played a chanceless knock during his four hour stay at the wicket. With the outfields being heavy he could only hit six boundaries. He also hit a couple of sixes.
Just when he was looking good for a century, he was bowled by medium pacer Ishwar Choudhary. After Tiwary's dismissal, Sayan Sekhar Mondal (0) and former captain Laxmi Ratan Shukla (13) left in quick succession as Bengal slumped to 258 for six.
But Majumdar who hit 10 boundaries along with Nandi ensured that bengal safely reached the magic figure of 274.
Brief Scores:
Gujarat 1st innings: 273
Bengal 1st innings: 340/7 (M Tiwary 92, A Majumdar 74, A Nandy not out 51)
Baroda humiliate Punjab by an innings and 55 runs
Vadodara: Baroda kept alive its hope of progressing to the knock-out stage of Ranji Trophy after notching up an innings and 55 runs victory over Punjab in a Super League Group B match.
Resuming their second innings at the overnight score of 79 for four after being forced to follow on, Punjab were all dismissed for 118 runs, thereby handing Baroda the comfortable win.
Punjab cut a sorry figure in their second innings too as apart from first innings centurion Sarul Kanwar (45), Vishwas Bhalla (20) and Jaskaran Singh (25), no other batsmen could reach the doubles figures.
Such was Punjab's struggle at the crease that they lost their remaining six wickets for mere 39 runs.
By virtue of this win, Baroda secured six points, including bonus points, while Punjab will return empty handed.
For Baroda, Mutuja Vahora scalped four wickets for 5 runs while Sankalp Vohra and Bhargav Bhatt picked up three and two wickers respectively.
Earlier, resuming their second essay trailing by 94 runs, Punjab lost four wickets -- Vishwas Bhalla, Karan Goel , Manpreet Gony and Kanwar -- within six runs to sum up their outing.
Kanwar was the lone Punjab to put up some resistance before the Baroda bowlers. After scoring 130 in the first innings, he stood amid ruins in the second essay too with a 63-ball 45 during which he hit eight fours but it was not enough to save the day for his side.
Punjab captain Pankaj Dhamani blamed his side's poor fielding for the team's embarrassing defeat as the visitors missed as many as six catches, which allowed Baroda to pile up a mammoth 416 runs in their first innings.
Brief Scores:
Baroda 1st Innings: 416
Punjab 1st Innings: 243
Baroda 2nd Innings: 118 all out in 43.2 overs (Sarul Kanwar 45, Jaskaran Singh 25, Vishwas Bhalla 20; Murtuja Vahora 4/35 runs, Sankalp Vohra 3/40, Bhatt 2/24).
Tamil Nadu, Railways share points
Chennai: Tamil Nadu and Railways shared a point each as the rain-marred Ranji Trophy Super League match between the two former champions ended in a tame draw.
After Tamil Nadu declared their first innings on 334 for four, Railways were comfortably placed at 143 for the loss of Faiz Fazal's wicket when stumps were drawn for the final time in the match on the fourth day.
V Cheluveraj and Sanjay Bangar were the two unbeaten batsmen at crease after Aushik Srinivas had Fazal caught by Subramanium Badrinath for a neat 71. But before that, Fazal and Cheluveraj had put on a solid 131-run partnership for the opening wicket at the Chemplast Ground.
Fazal's innings was laced with six boundaries and two sixes while Cheluveraj cleared the fence six times during his stay at the wicket.
The highlights of match, interrupted sporadically by rain, however, were Badrinath's knock of 149 Abhinav Mukund's 131. Both hit sixteen boundaries during their stay at the crease, and their approach made wicket taking a difficult task for Railways bowlers.
Brief score:
Tamil Nadu 1st innings: 335 for four decl (Badrinath 149, Mukund 131)
Railways 1st innings: 143 for one (Fazal 71, Cheluveraj 54 not out).
UP get 3 points from drawn match against HP
Kanpur: Paceman Sudeep Tyagi claimed five wickets as Uttar Pradesh bundled out Himachal Pradesh for just 84 to pocket three points by virtue of first innings lead on the final day as the rain-hit Ranji Trophy Super League match between the two sides ended in a draw.
Tyagi (5/27) wrecked havoc on the Himachal middle and lower order batsmen as the visitors, who resumed the day at 23 for two in their first innings, were all out in 38.4 overs in the morning session in reply to Uttar Pradesh's first innings score of 197 all out.
Opener Sangram Singh (28) and VA Indulkar (17), both not out overnight, were the only batsmen who could score in double digits at the Green Park Stadium.
India discard RP Singh and his pace colleague Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave able support to Tyagi with efforts of 3/38 and 2/14 respectively as Uttar Pradesh took a 113-run first innings lead.
Uttar Pradesh, who got three points from the match, declared their second innings at 138 for eight with Eklavya Dwivedi scoring a 59 (93 balls; 7x4) and the match ended in a draw.
For Himachal Pradesh, who got one point, Gurvinder Singh took 4/22 while Rishi Dhawan claimed 2/43.
Brief Scores:
Uttar Pradesh 1st Innings: 197 all out and 138/8 decl (Eklavya Dwivedi 59; Gurvinder 4/22)
Himachal Pradesh 1st Innings: 84 all out in 38.4 overs.
