Pacer Shardul Thakur had match figures of eight for 113 as Mumbai beat Delhi by 204 runs to enter the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy, in Cuttack, on Friday.
Resuming their second innings at 110 for 4 on the fifth and final day, Delhi lost overnight batsman Manan Sharma, who was unbeaten on 14, for the addition of just two runs to his individual score.
And when former India opener Virender Sehwag (19) departed, Delhi were reeling 150 for six.
Though the last-wicket pair of Pradeep Sangwan (26 not out) and Parvinder Awana (24) battled on gamely they could not prevent the 40-time champions from winning with much to spare.
Rajat Bhatia top-scored with 49 runs.
The pace duo of Balwinder Sandhu (3-35) and Thakur (3-59), who had bagged five wickets in the first innings, were Mumbai’s must successful bowlers.
In the semis, Mumbai will take on defending champions Karnataka, who won on the first innings after their match with Assam ended in a draw. The semi-final, from February 25 to March 1, will be atBangalore.
The other semi-final, on the same dates, will be between Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu at Kolkata.
Maharashtra beat Andhra by 75 runs on the third day of their quarter-final at the Bansi Lal Stadium in Lahli , while Tamil Nadu went through on the first innings after their match against Vidarbha at Jaipur ended in a draw.
Scorecard:
Mumbai (1st innings): 156 all out (Nikhil Patil 54, A Tare 39, S Narwal 3-37).
Delhi (1st innings): 166 all out (Sehwag 49, S Thakur 5-54).
Mumbai (2nd innings): 450 all out (A Herwadkar 161, S Iyer 82, S Lad 55, Manan Sharma 4--92).
Delhi 2nd innings: (Overnight: 110-4)
Unmukt Chand b Wilkin Mota 31
Gautam Gambhir lbw b Shardul 34
Shivam Sharma lbw b Wilkin Mota 0
Rajat Bhatia b Harmeet Singh 49
Mithun Manhas c Tare b Shardul 0
Manan Sharma c Lad b Shardul 16
Virender Sehwag b B S Sandhu 19
Rahul Yadav c Nikhil Patil b B S Sandhu 13
Sumit Narwal c & b Harmeet Singh 9
Pradeep Sangwan not out 26
Parvinder Awana c Surya Kumar Yadav b B S Sandhu 24
Extras: (nb:6, wd:1, b:6, lb:2) 15
Total: (all out in 87 overs) 236
Bowling: Shardul Thakur 24-10-59-3, B S Sandhu 17-6-35-3, Wilkin Mota 15-5-55-2, Abhishek Nayar 5-1-11-0, Harmeet Singh 20-8-55-2, S Lad 4-2-9-0, Surya Kumar Yadav 2-1-4-0-2.
Fall of wickets: 1-56 (Chand), 2-56 (Sharma), 3-92 (Gambhir), 4-92 (Manhas), 5-117 (Sharma), 6-150 (Sehwag), 7-172 (Yadav), 8-172 (Bhatia), 9-199 (Narwal), 10-236 (Awana).
Result: Mumbai won by 204 runs (qualified for semi-final).
Uthappa man of the match as defending champs make semis
Defending champions Karnataka advanced to the semi-finals on the first innings lead after their last eight match against Assam ended in a draw in Indore.
Assam ended their second innings at 338 for four after starting Day 5 on 32 for no loss.
Karnataka were in full control of the quarter-final after scoring 452 in their first innings and bowling out Assam for 185.
The Southern team declared their second innings at 415 for five, with Ravikumar Samarth scoring 178.
Robin Uthappa was named man of the match for his 153 and 77.
Brief scores:
Karnataka: 452 & 415/5 decl.
Assam: 185 & 338-4 (Gokul Sharma 127 not out, Arun Karthik 94).
Image: Shardul Thakur
144-run first innings lead takes TN past Vidarbha
Tamil Nadu sailed into the semi-finals by virtue of their 144-run first innings lead over Vidarbha in the quarter-final which ended in a draw at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur.
Vidarbha, totally outplayed, were left with a near-impossible victory target of 411 runs on the final day of the match. They were reeling at 142 for 8 in their second essay when the umpires called off the match after consent of both the captains.
It was a mere formality for Tamil Nadu as they were already assured of a place in the last four having put up 403 in the first innings and then bundling out Vidarbha for 259 to snatch a 144-run first innings lead which proved to be decisive in the end.
Tamil Nadu resumed at their overnight score of 193 for six but Swapnil Bandiwar (3/42), Ravikumar Thakur (2/62) and Rakesh Dhurv (2/88) restricted them to 266 all out.
Vidarbha were left with a near-impossible target of 411 and staring at an outright defeat when they lost four wickets, including that of skipper S Badrinath (0), for 68.
But an unbeaten half century by Ganesh Satish (59 not out; 131
balls, 6x4) and useful knocks by Shalabh Shrivastava (33) and Dhurv (22) saved them the blushes. They averted an outright defeat by reaching 142 for 8 before the match was called off.
For Tamil Nadu, Baba Aparajith (3/41) was the most successful bowler while Prasanth Parmeshwaran (2/26), L Balaji (1/21) and Malolan Rangarajan (1/25) were the other wicket-takers.
Brief scores:
Tamil Nadu: 403 & 266 all out in 98.2 overs (Vijay Shankar 82, Dinesh Karthik 64; Swapnil Bandiwar 3/42)
Vidarbha: 259 & 142/8 in 49 overs (Ganesh Satish 59 not out; Baba Aparajith 3/41).
