Mumbai, Dec 24: Mumbai beat Punjab by nine wickets at the Wankhede Stadium to go into the knockouts of the Ranji Trophy competition buoyed by a morale-boosting win. The hosts, who had already secured a quarter-final berth, chased down 127 runs in the second half of Day 4 to finish at the top of the Group A standings. Following the defeat, Punjab have crashed out of the Ranji Trophy 2011-‘12.
Trailing by one run when play ended on Day 3, Punjab went past Mumbai’s first-innings score in the first over of the final day when the visitors’ skipper Uday Kaul (89) hit pacer Kshemal Waingankar for a boundary. In the first half of the first session, Punjab were scoring steadily with Kaul and Bipul Sharma (34) picking easy runs off the Mumbai bowlers. This until Bipul was out caught by Balwinder Singh Sandhu (Jr.) off Ankeet Chavan’s bowling. At drinks during the first session, the visitors had scored 57 runs in 19 overs and lost one wicket. Post drinks, though, they lost three wickets in a span of 45 balls after adding just 31 runs, handing the advantage back to Mumbai.
With a chance to push for an outright win, Mumbai stepped up the pressure led by Chavan. The left-arm spinner, who had set the ball rolling with the wicket of Bipul a little before the break, sent back Karan Goel, Kaul, and later Harmeet Singh Bansal, to finish with a four-for.
After Goel, who had come down the order, handed a catch to Praful Waghela at forward short-leg, Kaul was caught by Kaustubh Pawar at short mid-wicket. Meanwhile, Rahul Sharma, who was hit for runs by Powar yesterday, returned the favour by hitting the off-spinner for two huge sixes into the top tier of the stands off consecutive overs. But the experienced Mumbai bowler had the last laugh as he had the tall leg-spinner stumped for 15. Hiken Shah, who had taken back the gloves from Surya Kumar Yadav, was quick behind the stumps to send back Rahul. And with Harmeet following him back to the pavilion, the hosts needed just one more wicket to end the Punjab innings.
Navdeep Sidhu (7* off 79) and Baltej Singh (7 off 55), however, put up a valiant fight for the last wicket. Mumbai finally broke the 95-ball partnership for 18 runs when Baltej edged Surya Kumar Yadav to the keeper. Almost half an hour after a late lunch, the visitors’ second innings was finally wrapped up for 330 runs.
Requiring 127 runs to win, Pawar and Waghela came to the crease. After the first two overs went without a run, Pawar took 16 runs off Harmeet, hitting him for three consecutive boundaries. Not to be left behind, his opening partner Waghela scored 13 runs off Baltej including a hat-trick of boundaries. Kaul then brought in Rahul Sharma to stem the flow of runs and Navdeep, who replaced Baltej, picked the wicket of Pawar for 23. But that did not help the Punjab cause much as Waghela and Jaffer kept up the momentum, scoring at over five runs per over in the second session. Needing just 35 runs off the last session, Waghela (57*) and Jaffer (50*) ensured that the hosts coasted to victory.
Tamil Nadu v MPCA: Tamil Nadu have drawn their Ranji Trophy encounter against Madhya Pradesh to finish at the top in the Elite – Group B standings. Resuming the day at 30 for two after taking a first-innings lead of 197, the hosts were bowled out for 208 in their second innings by Madhya Pradesh. Yo Mahesh, with an innings of 58, was the top-scorer for Tamil Nadu.
Karnataka v UPCA: Centuries from Ganesh Satish (190), Amit Verma (102) and Stuart Binny (189) shut the door on Uttar Pradesh’s campaign in the 2011-12 Ranji Trophy season. With Uttar Pradesh needing a win to qualify for the knockout phase after Rajasthan had trumped Orissa yesterday, Karnataka’s top-order batsmen put up a clinical performance to draw their match against the visitors and end UP’s hopes of pulling off a sensational win on Day 4.
Gujarat v Haryana: Haryana have finished third in the Elite – Group B standings following a 140-run win over Gujarat at Surat today. With the hosts needing 301 to win in the fourth innings, the spin duo of Haryana – Amit Mishra and Jayant Yadav – took three wickets each to bowl Gujarat out for a paltry 160. The win helps Haryana qualify for the knockout stage of the 2011-‘12 Ranji Trophy competition.
Baroda v Bengal: Bengal cruised to a comfortable nine-wicket win against hosts Baroda in their Elite – Group B encounter. After Ashok Dinda’s three-wicket haul on Day 3 had` reduced the hosts to 103 for five, Baroda were bowled out for a mere 139 in their second innings with Dinda completing yet another five-wicket haul in the match. The visitors knocked off the target (34 runs) for the loss of opener Arindam Das’ (9) wicket. However, both teams’ quarterfinal dreams have been quashed by Haryana.
Ranji Trophy Plate Group semi-final scorecards:
