Mumbai and Haryana advanced to the quarterfinals of the Ranji Trophy from Elite Division with convincing victories, while Bengal missed the bus narrowly despite a nine-wicket win over Baroda.

Mumbai defeated Punjab by nine wickets at the Wankhede Stadium to top Group A.

Trailing by 204 runs on the first innings, Punjab scored 330 in the second knock to leave Mumbai to get 127 for an outright win. Mumbai hit off the runs in 23.3 overs with Praful Waghela and tournament’s leading scorer Wasim Jaffer scoring 50s.

Punjab finished sixth among eight teams in the Group.

Haryana advanced to the last eight beating Gujarat by 140 runs at Surat.

After conceding a 21-run first innings lead, Haryana fought back to declare their second innings at 321 for five, setting 301-run target, and then shot out Gujarat for 160. Haryana off-spinner Jayant Yadav and leggie Amit Mishra took three wickets each for the second time in the match. Haryana ended at third place in Group B while Gujarat finished seventh and last.

It was heartbreak for Bengal at Baroda as they failed to qualify for the quarterfinals despite an emphatic win.

Bengal needed to win by a ten-wicket margin to qualify, but Arindam Das’s dismissal in the 10th over meant they could earn five points and not the bonus point to finish with 13 points alongside Baroda, who also crashed out after finishing fourth.

Mumbai, Karnataka and Rajasthan made it to the last eight from Group A, while Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana are through from Group B.

The six Elite Group teams were joined by the two Plate Division finalists Hyderabad and Maharashtra who won their semifinal matches Saturday.

In Chennai, Tamil Nadu picked up three points for first innings lead against Madhya Pradesh and topped Group B, taking along their opponents with them to the knockout round.

After gaining a first-innings lead of 197, Tamil Nadu batted out the last day to score 208 at the start of the mandatory overs and the match was called off.

Though they conceded a 105-run first-innings lead to Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka scored 561 for five in their second knock. Stuart Binny scored his third hundred of the season, making 189. Two of his teammates, skipper Ganesh Satish (190) and Amit Verma (102) also socred hundreds.

Hyderabad and Maharashtra are now back in the Elite Division, and the two bottom-placed teams from the top division Orissa and Gujarat go down to the Plate next season.

Brief scores

Elite Division:

GROUP A:

At Shimoga: Karnataka 314 in 95 overs and 561/5 in 135.5 overs (Ganesh Satish 190, Stuart Binny 189; Rudra Pratap Singh 2/82, Imtiyaz Ahmed 2/145) drew with Uttar Pradesh 419 all out in 116.4 overs.

At Mumbai: Punjab 226 in 77.2 overs and 330 in 113 overs (Uday Kaul 89, Mayank Sidhana 57; Kshemal Waingankar 2/81, Ankeet Chavan 4/64) lost to Mumbai 430 all out in 124.3 overs and 132/1 in 23.3 overs (Praful Waghela not out 57, Wasim Jaffer not out 50).

GROUP B:

At Baroda: Baroda 284 in 88 overs and 139 in 44 overs (Rakesh Solanki 59, Irfan Pathan 29; Ashok Dinda 5/66, Sourav Sarkar 4/32) lost to Bengal 390 in 138.5 overs and 36/1 in 12.4 overs.

At Surat: Haryana 207 in 74.2 overs and 321/5 decl in 98 overs beat Gujarat 228 in 78.3 overs and 160 in 64 overs (Bhargav Merai 47, Parthiv Patel 26; Jayant Yadav 3/37, Amit Mishra 3/25)

At Chennai: Tamil Nadu 486 in 153.1 overs and 208 all out in 89.1 overs (Yo Mahesh 58, Malolan Rangarajan 48; Amarjeet Singh 4-46, Ishwar Pandey 3-36) beat Madhya Pradesh 289 in 101.2 overs.

Plate Division (semi-finals):

At Nagpur: Vidarbha 531 in 191.1 overs drew with Hyderabad 486/8 in 166 overs (Arjun Yadav 128, Syed Quadri 99; Amol Jungade 2/91, Akshay Wakhare 2/126).

At Pune: Maharashtra 415 in 161.3 overs and 283/5 in 88 overs (Harshad Khadiwale 139, Chirag Khurana 79; Gurvinder Singh 4-111) drew with Himachal Pradesh 236 all out in 91.3 overs

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