Rlys pip Tamil Nadu via rules, UP crush Karnataka to reach semis

By Staff
|
Google Oneindia News

Kanpur, Mar 17 (UNI) Ranji Trophy champions Uttar Pradesh crushed Karnataka by seven wickets to move into the semi-finals of the limited overs Ranji Trophy Inter-State Tournament here today.

In the other quarter final, however, last year joint winners Tamil Nadu lost to Railways by a single run, courtsey a five run penalty imposed by adjudicators, despite having the upper edge in the match at the OEF Ground.

Winning the toss at Green Park Stadium, Karnataka decided to bat first -- a decision that was proved wrong by UP bowlers, who demolished the entire batting line up of the southern state for a paltry 123 in the 40th over only. Robin Uttapha (20), Tilak Naidu (21) and former team India all rounder Sunil Joshi (25) tried hard with their willow but in vain against UP bowlers led by pacer Shalabh Srivastava (three for 31), Ali Murtaza (three for 20) and Praveen Kumar and Ratnesh Mishra with two scalps apiece.

The easy UP chase, however, suffered initial shivers, with openers Rohit Prakash and Shivakant Shukla falling cheaply for three and nought respectively. The hosts were steadied by Team India player Suresh Raina, making his debut as captain for UP. The plucky southpaw brought back to tracks the UP chase, before falling prey to leg spinner Sunil Joshi for 37 which included six boundaries.

The hosts were powered to victory by Ravikant Shukla and former skipper Jyoti Yadav who remained not out on 42 and 25 respectively.

The other quarter final played at OEF Ground turned out to be a punishment for Tamil Nadu, who despite scoring more than their rivals ended up losers courtsey a five run penalty imposed by the adjudicators.

Winning the toss Railways decided to bat first and powered by knocks of 64 by Amit Pagnis and discarded Team India all rounder J P Yadav (57) and were all out for 272 in 49.3 overs. A costly error by former India batasman Hemang Badani, however, forced the umpires to add five runs to the Railways total as a penalty against Tamil Nadu.

While fielding Badani went off the field after informing the umpires, but did not do the same before entering the ground. Taking swift notice of the lapse, the umpires imposed a penalty of five runs on Tamil Nadu, consequently resulting in addition of five more runs to Railway total of 272 which resultantly read 277.

For the southern state Syed Mohd. claimed three wickets, while M R Sriniwas and G Vignesh bagged two scalps each.

In reply, despite stellar knocks of 70 by Hemang Badani, skipper S Badrinath 66 and M Vijay 38, Tamil Nadu were all out for 276 in the 50th over, falling a run short of the rescheduled target. For Railways J P Yadav, S Khanolkar took two wickets each, while captain Sanjay Bangar and leg spinner Kulamani Parida ended up with a wicket each.

In the semi-finals on March 19 in Lucknow, while hosts and last year joint winners UP take on Baroda, Railways will play Sourav Ganguly powered Bengal.

UNI KSP ARS DH PM1911

For Daily Alerts
Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
X