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Saurashtra force a draw

The ninth-wicket pair of Rajesh Garsondia and Kamal Chavda batted out the last 22 balls to enable Saurashtra hold Bombay to an exciting draw on the fourth and final day of the West Zone Ranji Trophy league match at the Wankhede Stadium in Bombay today.

Saurashtra were 206 for eight wickets in their second innings at the end of the match but were effectively nine down as their opener Sudhir Tanna, who was indisposed since yesterday, was in no position to take further part in the proceedings.

At one stage it looked as if Bombay would score an outright victory as they had the visitors tottering at 55 for four wickets. However, a stubborn stand of 111 in 39.2 overs between skipper Sitanshu Kotak (52 in 169 balls with 5 fours) and Manoj Parmar (67 in 128 balls with nine fours and a six) dashed all their hopes.

Yesterday's heroes medium-pacers Paras Mhambrey and Abey Kuruvilla, who took three wickets apiece, were unable to reproduce the same form today even with the second new ball.

Bombay had to be satisfied with five points, earned by virtue of the first innings lead of 114. It swelled their tally to 24 points at the end of their zonal league commitments and also assured them of a berth in the Super League.

Saurashtra picked three points from the match to take their tally to 11. The have one more match, against Baroda at Rajkot from January 9, in hand.

Brief scores:
Bombay 297 and 372 for 4; Saurashtra 183 and 206 for 8 (Sitanshu Kotak 52, Manoj Parmar 67; Paras Mhambrey 3 for 35, Abey Kuruvilla 3 for 49, Sairaj Bahutule 2 for 50).