A round-up of the fourth day’s action from the seventh round of the Ranji Trophy Super League
Cricinfo staff18-Dec-2009Group B
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Ashok Thakur took six wickets for Himachal Pradesh•ESPNcricinfo Ltd
Karnataka continued their domination of the league phase with a resounding victory over Saurashtra. Set 241 to win, they knocked off the runs in 52.2 overs to finish on 28 points, 10 clear of the second-placed Uttar Pradesh. It was half-centuries from their young batsmen, G Satish and Manish Pandey, that steered Karnataka to their fourth win of the season. Captain Robin Uthappa gave the chase a cracking start, slamming nine fours in a 36-ball 47, after which Satish and Pandey took over. Satish dropped anchor while Pandey was more adventurous during their 126-run stand that nearly took Karnataka to the finish line. It ends a dismal season for Saurashtra, who end with a paltry seven points after reaching the semi-finals in the previous two seasons.
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Expectedly, the game between Delhi and Bengal petered out to a dull draw. After Delhi’s first innings came to an end at 378 – Puneet Bisht remaining unbeaten on 128 – Bengal helped themselves to some batting practice. The Bengal openers piled on 187, with Arindam Das going on to a breezy century but his partner Rohan Banerjee was run out on 77. Das also retired hurt after the run out, and Bengal extended their score to 223 before the game was called off. Delhi made it to the quarter-finals by one point, where they will take on a strong Tamil Nadu.
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Baroda completed a straightforward win over Maharashtra, but will be ruing their inability to chase down 101 without losing a wicket. Had they managed that, they would have made the quarter-finals ahead of Delhi but the loss of the bonus point means they finish in fourth place. Baroda only took 25 overs on the day to reach the target, thanks largely to Kedar Devdhar’s unbeaten half-century. There was a bit of a hiccup for Baroda when legspinner Digambhar Waghmare struck twice in an over, but Maharashtra had little else to celebrate on a day when they were relegated to the Plate League.Group A
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In a tame draw at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, C Ganapathy made his second century in two games to power Tamil Nadu to a massive 785 against Hyderabad. There was no respite for the home side’s bowlers after Tamil Nadu resumed on 594 for 6, with Ganapathy receiving solid support from tailenders R Ashwin and R Jesuraj. Hyderabad’s Abhinav Kumar helped himself to one of the easiest centuries of the season, blasting the part-timers – S Badrinath, Abhinav Mukund, S Anirudha and Dinesh Karthik – Tamil Nadu used for the 27 overs that remained. Tamil Nadu finish on top of the table and now face Delhi in the quarter-finals, while Hyderabad were relegated to the Plate League for the first time.
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In one of the most exciting matches of the round, Himachal Pradesh came within two wickets of pulling off a dramatic victory over Orissa. Overnight batsman Vinit Indulkar made 28 more before being dismissed on 165 and in No. 10 Vikramjeet Malik’s company helped stretched HP’s second innings score to 486. That left Orissa needing 296 to win, but thoughts of victory were quickly abandoned after their top order folded to the pace of Ashok Thakur. From 11 for 3 it was a question of escaping with a draw, and first-innings hero Halhadar Das nearly saved them by resisting for more than three hours for a 47. However, he was the eighth man out with 15 deliveries remaining; the tailenders didn’t look to play safe after that, thrashing 16 runs in those deliveries, but managed to stave off defeat.
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Gujarat’s plucky chase of Mumbai’s huge first-innings total fizzled on the third day, with their lower order folding meekly. Once they were bowled out for 502, giving Mumbai the first-innings points, the match rambled towards a draw. Both Mumbai openers, Sahil Kukreja and Sushant Marathe, raced to 80s but fell short of reaching a century in the inconsequential second innings. Despite not having the most convincing of seasons, Mumbai are through to the quarter-finals where they clash with Harayana.
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With little to play for after Punjab took the first-innings lead on the third day, Railways crawled to 230 for 4 off 86 overs in their second innings on Friday before the match was called off. Sanjay Bangar took nearly six hours to reach an unbeaten 115, his 12th first-class century. His strike-rate of 43.72 was the quickest of the Railways batsmen. The other Railways player to make a contribution was Harshad Rawle, who laboured to 40 off 138 deliveries.Group A
Tamil Nadu 7 2 0 0 50 26 1.484 4166/86 3198/98 Punjab 7 2 1 04 0 19 1.018 3071/102 3166/107 Mumbai 7 1 0 06 0 19 1.646 3343/60 3521/104 Railways 7 1 0 06 0 14 1.223 3292/89 2057/68 Orissa 7 0 1 06 0 12 0.857 2662/93 3305/99 Himachal Pradesh 7 1 3 03 0 10 0.875 2777/116 3148/115 Gujarat 7 1 3 03 0 10 0.770 3236/110 3055/80 Hyderabad (India) 7 0 0 07 0 7 0.624 2946/104 4043/89
Group B
Karnataka 6 4 0 02 0 28 1.911 3314/68 2933/115 Uttar Pradesh 6 2 1 03 0 18 1.030 2755/91 3144/107 Delhi 6 2 1 03 0 16 1.013 2989/80 3318/90 Baroda 6 2 1 03 0 15 1.067 3040/97 2379/81 Bengal 6 1 1 04 0 11 0.952 2963/83 3112/83 Saurashtra 6 0 3 03 0 7 0.973 3045/87 3023/84 Maharashtra 6 0 4 02 0 4 0.494 3026/114 3223/60