Railways reach Ranji semis

Last year's runner-up Railways clinched their second successive Ranji Trophy semi-final berth with an emphatic eight wicket victory over Tamil Nadu on the final day of the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals in Delhi.

Tamil Nadu, who had conceded a 147-run first innings lead, declared their second innings at 326 for six after lunch on Saturday to give their bowlers a chance to force a result. However, the 180-run target did not pose too many problems for Railways, who romped home in 57.2 overs losing just two wickets in the process.

Amit Pagnis (42) and Sanjay Bangar (52*) gave Railways a flying start as both the openers hammered the wayward TN bowling.

Pagnis, the more aggressive of the two, struck eight fours in his attractive innings before being caught by Hemang Badani in the covers off Ashish Kapoor.

Tejinder Pal Singh (45) continued to torment the bowlers in the company of a determined Bangar as a disheartened Tamil Nadu team even stopped chasing the ball.

Tejinder soon paid the penalty for being too aggressive as his pre-determined pull off Badani was brilliantly taken at mid-on by substitute Hemant Kumar, but the dismissal failed to bring any cheer to a dejected TN camp.

Bangar and Yere Goud (25*) then ensured that they cantered home without any further alarms. Bangar reached his fifty with a four off Ramkumar.

Punjab defeats Orissa, reaches semis

Navdeep Singh rocked Orissa with a five-wicket haul as Punjab registered a comprehensive 243-run victory here today to move into the semi-final of the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament.

Needing 463 runs for victory, Orissa second innings folded at 219, 38 minutes before tea on the final day of the quarter-final match with Navdeep returning figures of five for 36.

Punjab will take on Baroda in Baroda in the semi-final.

Orissa resumed at their overnight 26 without loss and kept losing wickets at regular intervals after opener Shiv Sunder Das was the first one to go for his individual score of nine. The other opener B B C C Mohapatra made a solid 44 while Rashmi Ranjan Parida scored 40.

However, it was Prabhajan Mullick (72), selected to play for Board President's XI in a three-day match against the visiting Zimbabwean side from February 15, who raised hopes of a fight-back after his side was reduced to 135 for five.

He put on 67 runs for the sixth wicket with Gautam Gopal (31) to take the score to 202 but that was as far a they got.

Navdeep Singh claimed five wickets, including that of Mullick. This was Navdeep's 23rd five wicket haul in the Ranji trophy.

Vineet Sharma and Harbhajan Singh took two wickets each for Punjab while Harish Puri claimed one scalp.

Earlier reports:
Day 4 round-up: Hyderabad suffer humiliating defeat
Day 3 round-up: Zaheer, Martin put Baroda in command
Day 2 round-up: Martin, Williams put Baroda in command
Day 1 round-up: Sanyal rallies Bangal; Laxman props Hyderabad

Mail Cricket Editor