Defending champions Mumbai became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy 'Elite' group when they took two points from their drawn encounter against Railways in Mumbai on Saturday.

Mumbai, who were bowled out for 168 in their second essay, set Railways an uphill task of scoring 359 runs in 172 minutes for an outright win.

In reply, Railways reached 121 for four in 43 overs.

Mumbai, with 20 points, is followed by Punjab, with 11, and Railways (10).

Mumbai take on Punjab while Railways meet Baroda at Vadodara in their last league encounters.

Resuming at their overnight second innings score of 82 for three, the hosts progressed quite well with Test discard Vinod Kambli playing a cameo innings of 64 runs off 129 balls in a 97-run  fourth-wicket partnership with Amol Muzumdar (28).

But once the stylish southpaw was caught by Amit Pagnis, off 'offie' Kulmani Parida, Mumbai lost wickets at regular intervals.

In fact, the champions lost their last six wickets for just 43 runs off 23 overs and were all out eight minutes after lunch.

J P Yadav took four wickets for 41 runs while Parida (3/39) and Shreyas Khanolkar (3/19) were the other successful bowlers for Railways.

Mumbai 1st innings: 388
Railway 1st innings: 198
Mumbai 2nd Innings (overnight 82 for three)
P Jadhav c A Pagnis b J P Yadav 7
W Jaffer b J P Yadav 19
B Thakkar lbw J P Yadav 1
A Muzumdar c T P Singh b K Parida 28
V Kambli c A Pagnis b K Parida 64
R Powar b K Parida 2
S Bahutule c S Wankhede b S Khanolkar 13
U Malvi c S Wankhede B J P Yadav 1
V Samant st S Wankhede b S Khanolkar 19
S Hazare b S Khanolkar 1
M Patel not out 1
Extras: (lb 5, nb 4, b 2, w 1) 12
Total: (allout, 78.4 overs) 168

Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-19, 3-28, 4-125, 5-128, 6-131, 7-136, 8-163, 9-167.

Bowling: H Singh 16-6-26-0, Hussain 13-3-30-0, J P Yadav 21-10-41-4, S Bangar 3-1-6-0, K Parida 18-3-39-3, S Khanolkar 7.4-2-19-3.

Railways 2nd innings
A Pagnis lbw U Malvi 7
T P Singh b S Hazare 31
R Ali not out 58
S Khanolkar c P Yadav b S Bahutule 11
J P Yadav C M Patel b S Bahutule 2
S Verma not out 4
Extras: (2-lb, 5-nb, 1-w) 8
Total: (for 4 wkts off 43 overs) 121

Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-41, 3-93, 4-97.

Bowling: M Patel 6-2-23-0, U Malvi 7-5-4-1, S Hazare 13-3-30-1, S Bahutule 12-1-42-2, R Powar 5-0-20-0.

Photograph: Deepak Salvi