Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 5 (IANS) Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Mumbai Thursday joined Haryana to complete the Ranji Trophy semifinals line-up after winning their respective matches on the first-innings lead.

Haryana won their match against Karnataka outright in three days Wednesday while the other three teams made it from drawn games Thursday.

In the semifinals, starting Tuesday, Mumbai take on Tamil Nadu at home while Rajasthan face Haryana away at Lahli, near Rohtak.

Hyderabad’s spirited comeback on the final day against Rajasthan went in vain, having conceded a massive 277-run first-innings lead. The hosts, trailing by 139 runs overnight, went on to make 431 thanks to hundreds from openers Akshath Reddy (151) and captain Ravi Teja (185 not out). Set a 144-run target in 20 overs, Rajasthan openers Aakash Chopra and Vineet crawled to 25 runs.

Hyderabad, who returned to the Elite Group from the Plate Division, were forced to follow-on after they folded up for 144 in reply to Rajasthan’s 421.

At Indore, Mumbai prevailed over Madhya Pradesh on a 242-run first-innings lead. Madhya Pradesh batted well in the second knock, but it was their 192 all out on Day One that made the difference.

Mumbai needed to bat only once, making 434 thanks to hundreds by Kaustubh Pawar and Ankeet Chavan.

On the final day, Madhya Pradesh declared their second innings at 474 for three, Mohnish Mishra (174) and Devendra Bundela (101) being the principal contributors. Chasing 233, Mumbai were 113 for one when the match was called-off.

At Chennai, Tamil Nadu advanced after they beat Maharashtra on the basis of the 183-run first innings lead as the match ended in a predictable draw.

The fourth day’s play was only of academic interest as Maharashtra declared their second innings at the tea score 321 for four, leaving the hosts to get 140 for an improbable victory, and the hosts made 45 for one in 14 overs before the match was called off at the end of the fifth mandatory over.

Brief scores (quarterfinals):

At Hyderabad: Rajasthan 421 in 167.1 overs and 25/0 in 20 overs vs. Hyderabad 144 and 431/2 decl in 98 overs(Ravi Teja not out 185, Akshath Reddy 151; Pankaj Singh 1-113).
Result: Match Drawn

At Indore: Madhya Pradesh 192 in 55.1 overs and 474/3 decl in 103 overs (Mohnish Mishra not out 174, Devendra Bundela not out 101; Ramesh Powar 1-88) vs. Mumbai 434 in 146.4 overs and 113/1 in 34 overs (Praful Waghela not out 51, Kaustubh Pawar not out 52)
Result: Match Drawn

At Chennai: Maharashtra 232 and 321/4 decl in 95 overs (Harshad Khadiwale 105, Chirag Khurana 102; Sunny Gupta 2-69) vs. Tamil Nadu 415 in 143.2 overs and 45/1 in 14 overs (Abhinav Mukund not out 21)
Result: Match Drawn