Ranji Trophy: Mumbai fail to beat UP, earn three points in drawn tie

Uttar Pradesh were bowled out for 440, chasing hosts Mumbai's huge first innings total of 610 for 9 declared, before the Ranji Trophy Group B match ended in a draw here today with the visitors making 140 in the second essay after following on.

Starting the day at the overnight 350 for five, trailing the home team by 260 runs, UP lost both their overnight not out batsmen Eklavya Dwivedi (66) and Piyush Chawal (88) in the morning session and their slim hopes of gaining the first innings lead fizzled out.

Mumbai all-rounder Abhishek Nayar celebrates after dismissing UP's Piyush Chawla during the Ranji Trophy match at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday. Pic/PTI

All-rounder Abhishek Nayar, Mumbai's best medium-pace bowler on view on the slow-paced Wankhede Stadium track, dismissed both the batsmen before left arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar polished off the tail to bring the UP first innings to an end and give Mumbai a huge lead of 170 runs.

Nayar and Dabholkar finished with four wickets apiece before their captain Aditya Tare asked UP to follow on with a view to try and gain an outright victory.

But the ploy did not work as UP recovered from the loss of an early wicket (Dwivedi for 6) through an unbeaten second wicket partnership of 128 runs between Himanshu Asnora (68 not out) and Umang Sharma (62 not out), who both compiled their second half centuries of the game.

Play was called off by mutual agreement before the start of the mandatory overs.

Mumbai gained three points by virtue of taking the first innings lead and remained on top of Group B with 20 points while UP had 14, including one from this game, to be sixth in the nine-team group.

Mumbai clash next with Railways here from November 15-18 while UP host Tamil Nadu on the same dates.

Brief scores:
Mumbai 610 for 9 declared drew with
Uttar Pradesh 440 (H Asnora 92, U Sharma 53, Sarfaraz Khan 44, E Dwivedi 66, P Chawla 84; V Dabholkar 4 for 116, A Nayar 4 for 63) and 140 for 1 (H Asnora not out 68, U Sharma not out 62; V Dabholkar 1 for 30). Points: Mumbai 3; UP 1.