Mumbai comprehensively beat Delhi to book a place in the semi-final. The Aditya Tare-led young side, who had managed to sneak into the quarter-finals on the basis of first innings lead in the last game of the league phase and results of the other games in the group, defeated Group B table-toppers in the quarter-final clash. They will be taking on defending champions Karnataka who have outplayed Assam in the first QF to enter the next level based on the first innings lead. The other second semi-final will be played between Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. While Maharashtra galloped to victory over Andhra, Tamil Nadu qualified on the basis of first innings lead. Here are the highlights for the day:
QF 1 - Assam vs Karnataka: Karnataka entered the semi-final on the basis of first innings lead against Assam in the drawn match. The Vinay Kumar-led side posted runs in excess of 400 runs in both innings to bat the opposition out of the game. Chasing 683, Assam were 339/4 in the second innings when play was called off in the final session of the fifth day. Gokul Sharma was unbeaten on 127 when play ended in Indore.
QF 2 - Delhi vs Mumbai: Mumbai cantered to a 204-run victory over Delhi to enter the semi-finals. After setting Delhi a 441-run target, they bowled the Gautam Gambhir-led side out for 236 on the last day of the game.
After resuming on 110/4, Delhi lost Manan Sharma to Shardul Thakur in the morning. Balwinder Singh Sandhu then castled Virender Sehwag and followed up with the wicket of Rahul Yadav to leave the side on 172/7. Without a run added to the scorecard, Harmeet Singh then ended Rajat Bhatia's resistance for 49 (122 balls) a few overs later. And 27 runs later, the spinner caught Sumit Narwal off his own bowling to bring Mumbai within a wicket of victory. Sandhu then accounted for Parvinder Awana to end Delhi's campaign for the Ranji Trophy 2014-15 trophy.
QF 3- Tamil Nadu vs Vidarbha: TN claimed the semi-final berth on the basis of first innings lead in the drawn game against Vidarbha. Earlier on the last day, the Abhinav Mukund-led side were bowled out for 266 after resuming their innings on 193/6 on the last morning. Having set Vidarbha a mammoth 411-run target, P Parameswaran and L Balaji left the opposition reeling on 15/3. While Ganesh Satish rallied on to remain unbeaten on 59, Baba Aparajith claimed 3/41 and M Rangarajan picked one as they ran through the line-up. When play was called off later in the day Vidarbha were 142/8.
QF 4- Andhra vs Maharashtra: Maharashtra were the first to book a place in the semi-finals. Their pace quartet ā Anupam Sanklecha (4/19), Samad Fallah, DJ Muthuswamy and Shrikant Mundhe bowled the side to a 75-run win against Andhra in under three days.
