Mumbai will face Rajasthan in the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy after Delhi finished the last day's play at 242 for six, needing an improbable 560 to win in less than a day.
Mumbai were all-out for 493 in their second essay.
Virat Kohli lasted barely 21 minutes and was again dismissed cheaply in the 13th over of Delhi's second innings. He was sent back to the pavilion thanks to some good bowling by veteran Ajit Agarkar. Kohli was caught by Prashant Naik off Agarkar's bowling for only nine at Roshanara Club ground.
With the match already, Mumbai pressed hard for another outright win as they reduced Delhi to 69 for five by 22 overs. But Punit Bisht (36) and Rahat Bhatia (57 not out) added 67 runs for the sixth wicket but more importantly consumed an hour and 45 minutes. After that Sumit Narwal used the long handle to good effect as he scored an unbeaten 79 off only 72 balls with the help of nine fours and four sixes.
Defending champions Mumbai will now meet Rajasthan in their quarter-final match at Jaipur.
Railways register innings win to enter quarters
It took Railways around 40 minutes to capture the remaining three Bengal wickets and register one of their biggest victories in recent times by an innings 10 runs -- to enter the quarter-final of the Ranji Trophy at the Karnail Singh Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday.
Bengal put up another dismal batting performance to be bowled out for a paltry 134. Former captain Laxmi Ratan Shukla (58 not out, 110 balls, 8x4) fought grimly but that wasn't good enough.
Veteran all-rounder Jai Prakash Yadav (five for 20) used the moist morning conditions to perfection as he quickly snapped up Ranadeb Bose, Ashok Dinda and Iresh Saxena all of whom failed to trouble the scorers. With Arindam Das ruled unfit to bat, Bengal innings folded after 67.2 overs.
Sourav Ganguly. who played for Bengal, defended the team's performance saying that Tamil Nadu match being washed out turned out to be a key factor in the end.
"I believe that we would have been in a much better position if the match against Tamil Nadu was not washed out. We were bowling really well, but you can't control the weather," the former India captain said.
Ganguly also feels that Bengal is still going through a transition phase.
"Bengal played the Ranji Trophy finals in 2007. So it's just three seasons. The rebuilding process is on and we should give them time. This is a young team and the more they play under pressure they will come up trumps. If you look at the season, we haven't done all that badly," the southpaw said.
On his own form, Ganguly said, "I was playing after a long time. I was a bit rusty but I will play in National One-Dayers and T20. The more I play, the better I will get."
Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary was however forthright in his assessment about why the team can't win crunch games.
"Let's accept that we lack in the skill as well as application part. A lot of hard work needs to be put in so that we can identify the areas on which we have to work on," the Bengal captain said.
However the logic of Bengal team being inexperienced is not something that one would digest. There has been a change in the core team but the likes of Shukla, Bose have been around for 12 years. Someone like Arindam Das has played for seven seasons now. Even Anushtup Majumdar who plays one or two matches each seasons made his debut back in 2004.
Brief Scores: Bengal 201 & 134 Railways 345.
Karnataka advance to elite division quarters
Karnataka booked a berth in the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy elite division by virtue of a first innings lead with the last Group B match against Uttar Pradesh ending in a tame draw in Kanpur on Saturday.
On the fourth and final day at Green Park Stadium, Ganesh Satish and Stuart Binny struck unbeaten centuries as Karnataka scored a huge 537 for four in their second innings.
Resuming at 178 for two, the Karnataka batsmen sent the UP bowlers on a leather hunt scoring at 4.43 runs per over.
All the top-order Karnataka batsmen scored half centuries with Satish and Binny remaining not out on 100 and 127 respectively.
Karnataka now play Madhya Pradesh in the quarter-finals in Indore from December 24-27.
Brief Scores:
Karnataka: 416 and 537 for four in 121 overs (Ganesh Satish 100 not out, Stuart Binny 127 not out).
Uttar Pradesh (1st innings): 319 all out in 102.4 overs.
TN stamp their class to enter quarterfinals
Tamil Nadu progressed to the quarter-final of the Ranji Trophy after gaining three points by virtue of their first innings lead in their Elite A Group match against Gujarat which ended in a draw in Chennai on Sunday.
Resuming at an overnight score of 158 for four, Tamil Nadu, who required three points to progress to the next stage, declared their first innings at 240 for six with former captain Subramaniam Badrinath top-scoring with 84 of 179 balls.
Gujarat were 115 for four when the match was called off at the start of mandatory overs.
Tamil Nadu now play Harayana in the quarter-finals at Lahli (near Rohtak) from December 24 to 27.
Tamil Nadu, with 17 points, finished third in Group A behind Mumbai (24).
The quarter-finals will start from December 24.
Meanwhile, English umpire Tim Robinson will officiate the Ranji Trophy quarter-final match between Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh which will be held Indore as part of the exchange programme between BCCI and ECB.
Similarly, Indian umpire Shahvir Tarpore will officiate two County games in England.
