Goa defeated Himachal Pradesh by six wickets to take four points from their Ranji Trophy Plate division Group B match in Shimla today.

Set a target of 79 runs for an outright victory, Goa came up against some spirited bowling from the hosts, but reached the target losing four wickets.

Earlier, resuming at their overnight 230 for eight, the Himachal batsmen hung on and added 49 runs.

Ajay Mannu scored a patient 97, but ran out of partners to leave Goa with the task of chasing a mere 80 odd runs in their second innings.

Goa had scored an impressive 312 in the first innings while Himachal could muster only 111.

Himachal Pradesh (1st innings): 111 all out (42.2 overs)
Goa (1st innings): 312 all out (122.3 overs)
Himachal Pradesh (2nd innings):
M S Bisla c D'Souza b Shaikh 31
Sandeep Sharma c Phadke b Jakati 53
Sangram Singh c Somasekhar b Dani 45
V K Sharma c Phadke b Jakati 0
A Mannu c Katkar b Jakati 97
Amit Sharma c Somasekhar b Dani 0
Nishant Verma c Phadke b Dani 0
R K Panta c Shaikh b Dani 19
V Bhatia lbw b Jakati 14
A K Thakur not out 8
M Sharma c Jakati b Dani 0
Extras: (b-4, lb-7, nb-2) 13
Total: (all out, 115.3 overs) 280
Fall of wickets: 1-70, 2-98, 3-98, 4-170, 5-170, 6-170, 7-194, 8-228, 9-279, 10-280
Bowling: Aware 29-6-92-0, Dani 26.3-8-73-5 (1nb), Shaikh 21-4-48-1, Jakati 37-17-45-4, Katkar 1-0-9-0, D'Souza 1-0-2-0 (nb1)

Goa (2nd innings)
V V Kolambkar lbw b Thakur 2
*S M Asnodkar c Sandeep Sharma b Panta 17
A Katkar c Panta b Bhatia 23
R D R D'Souza lbw b Bhatia 3
R R Naik not out 9
M D Phadke not out 11
Extras: (b-7, lb-2, nb-6) 15
Total: (4 wickets, 32.4 overs) 80
DNB: S Somasekhar, S B Jakati, A P Dani, F Shaikh, A I Aware
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-37, 3-48, 4-57
Bowling: Thakur 6-4-4-1, Bhatia 16-4-26-2, M Sharma 1-0-10-0 (1nb), Amit Sharma 1-0-7-0, Panta 8.4-2-24-1 (5nb)

Saurashtra draw match against Orissa

Lefthanded opener Kanaiya Vaghela struck a scintillating 93 for Saurashtra on the last day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Plate Group B match against Orissa, which ended in a draw at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Saturday.

Saurashtra, who were trailing by 98 runs after Orissa declared their first innings closed on 326 for eight, reached 206 for six in the second innings on the back of Vaghela's knock.

The hosts, who garnered two points from the rain-curtailed tie, boosted their tally to 13, virtually ensuring a place in the semi-finals of the Plate division.

Orissa play Services in their last match, which will begin in Delhi on Christmas. The hosts had beaten Goa and Himachal Pradesh while taking the first innings lead against Maharashtra and Saurashtra in drawn games.

Resuming at the overnight 320 for eight, Orissa added just six runs before declaring their innings closed.

Vaghela, who had carried his bat in Saurashtra's first innings to remain unbeaten on 95, batted in the same fashion, but was unlucky to miss a century by seven runs. His knock, spread over 384 minutes, contained 12 well-struck fours.

Skipper Sitanshu Kotak hit exactly 50 (195 minutes, 5x4) and shared an 86 run stand with Vaghela for the second wicket. Prakash Bhatt chipped in with 43.

Off-spinner Sanjay Satpathy took two wickets for 88 runs while mediumpacers Debashis Mohanty, Niranjan Behera and Sanjay Raul captured a wicket each.

Saurashtra (1st innings): 228
Orissa (1st innings):
Shiv Sundar Das c A Kamalia b P Gosai 7
Subrat Behera lbw b R Dhruv 50
Rashmi Ranjan Parida c P Gosai b S Jubanputra 16
Sanjay Raul run out 107
Pravanjan Mullick c J Shah b N Doshi 60
Niranjan Behera c (sub) b P Gosai 40
Sukhwinder Singh lbw b A Merchant 5
Sanjay Satpathy c A Kamalia b P Gosai 0
Debashis Mohanty not out 15
Deepak Mangaraj not out 3
Extras: (b-8, lb-6, nb-8, w-1) 23
Total: (for 8 wkts decl, in 110 overs) 326
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-51, 3-124, 4-225, 5-284, 6-302, 7-302, 8-307
Bowling: Sandeep Jubanputra 16-1-70-1, Pintoo Gosai 22-4-64-3, Altaf Merchant 11-1-27-1, Kanaiya Vaghela 4-1-17-0, Nayan Doshi 25-12-29-1, Rakesh Dhruv 19-3-70-1, Sitanshu Kotak 7-1-19-0, Jayadev Shah 6-1-16-0

Saurashtra (2nd innings):
Kanaiya Vaghela c (sub) b S Raul 93
Altaf Merchant lbw b D Mohanty 8
Sitanshu Kotak c (sub) b N Behera 50
Jaydev Shah st S Singh b S Satpathy 4
Prakash Bhatt run out 43
Firoz Bambhaniya c (sub) b S Satpathy 0
Rakesh Dhruv not out 0
Extras (b-5, lb-2, nb-1) 8
Total: (for 6 wickets in 96.2 overs) 206
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-105, 3-118, 4-197, 5-206, 6-206
Bowling: Debashis Mohanty 9-3-14-1, Deepak Mangaraj 11-4-29-0, Sanjay Satpathy 31-4-88-2, Pravanjan Mullick 5-5-0-0, Sanjay Raul 22.2-5-34-1, Shiv Sundar Das 8-2-21-0, Niranjan Behera 10-6-13-1

Haryana secure 2 points against Bihar

Haryana secured two points by virtue of their first innings lead against Bihar on the final day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Plate Group B match, which ended in a draw at Jamshedpur on Saturday.

Chasing a target of 214 runs for an outright win, Haryana had time to face just six overs to score 12 for the loss of one wicket when the match ended in a draw.

Earlier, resuming at 71 for two, Bihar's overnight unbeaten pair of Rajiv Kumar (56) and Mohit Goyal (70) played responsible knocks to add 119 runs for the third wicket before leg-spinner Amit Mishra trapped Goyal leg before wicket. Goyal struck eight boundaries in his fine knock.

Bihar, who had conceded a 111 run lead on the first innings, recovered from an early jolt as their middle order clicked to add some valuable runs.

While M Dhoni (44) and skipper Sumit Panda (28) brought in 43 runs for the fifth wicket, Dhoni with Mihir Diwakar (50) added 82 runs for the eighth wicket to take the score to a respectable 324 all out in their second essay.

Off-spinner Gaurav Vashist bowled a tidy spell to polish off Bihar's tail and emerge as the most successful bowler claiming four for 69. Pace bowler Joginder Sharma captured three wickets giving away 79 runs.

Haryana now have eight points from four outings while Bihar have secured four from four.

Bihar (1st innings): 238
Haryana (1st innings): 349
Bihar (2nd innings):
Ratan Kumar lbw Joginder Sharma 0
Anant Prakash lbw Gaurav Vashist 5
C M Jha c Ajay Ratra b Joginder Sharma 4
Rajiv Kumar lbw Joginder Sharma 56
Mohit Goyal lbw Amit Mishra 70
Sumit Panda c Ajay Ratra b G Vashist 28
M S Dhoni b S Narwal 44
Mihir Diwakar c Amit Mishra b G Vashist 50
Sahid Khan lbw G Vashist 30
Sunny Gupta run out 12
S S Rao not out 0
Extras: (b-9, lb-8, nb-8) 25
Total: (all out in 117.4 overs) 324
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-4, 3-123, 4-128, 5-162, 6-205, 7-219, 8-301, 9-324
Bowling: Joginder Sharma 23-5-79-3, S Narwal 9-5-14-1, Sunny Singh 14-1-45-0, Amit Mishra 33-10-78-1, Sourav Virmani 9-1-22-0, Gaurav Vashist 29.4-6-69-4.

Haryana (2nd innings):
Jitender Singh not out 10
Chetan Sharma c Ghosh (sub) b Diwakar 1
Sunny Singh not out 0
Extras: (nb-1) 1
Total: (for one wicket in six overs) 12
Fall of wickets: 1-12
Bowling: Mihir Diwakar 3-1-6-1, S S Rao 3-1-6-0

Tripura secure draw against MP

Tripura salvaged a draw against Madhya Pradesh on the fourth and final day of their Ranji Trophy Plate Group A match at Indore on Saturday.

Following on, Tripura ended the day on 177 for seven to deny the hosts an outright win. Madhya Pradesh had to be content with two points by virtue of their first innings lead.

Resuming at the overnight 255 for eight, Tripura surrendered before local hero Narendra Hirwani who claimed the wickets of Timir Chanda (74) and Ashish Kapoor (24) to force the team to follow on.

Already 188 runs behind, Tripura lost a quick wicket when opener Tirtha Ray (4) was run out by Sachin Dholpure in the seventh over.

Hirwani again spun a web of magic to claim the wickets of Ritesh Jaiswal (35), Subal Choudhry (13), Sadagopan Mahesh (59) and Chetan Sachdev (4) for a match haul of eight wickets.

Yogesh Golwalkar too chipped in, claiming the wickets of Timi Chanda (16) and Sandeep Dehad (12) to restrict the visitors to 177 for seven.

At close, Sonu Sharma was not out on 29 while Arindam Sarkar was yet to open his account.

Madhya Pradesh (1st innings): 454
Tripura (1st innings):
T Ray c D Bundela b Y Golwalkar 31
R Jaiswal lbw b H S Sodhi 0
S Choudhary c A Ali b H S Sodhi 0
S Mahesh c N Ojha b N Hirwani 31
C Sachdev c N Hirwani b Y Golwalkar 33
T Chanda c R Yengde b N Hirwani 74
A Sarkar lbw b Y Golwalkar 10
T R Arasu lbw b N Hirwani 21
S Dahad b Y Golwalkar 11
A Kapoor c b Tomar b N Hirwani 24
S Sharma not out 8
Extras: (nb-20, lb-3) 23
Total: (all out, 97.1 overs) 266
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-11, 3-56, 4-111, 5-124, 6-140, 7-187, 8-211, 9-255
Bowling: S Pandey 18-2-47-0, H S Sodhi 15-2-43-2, N Hirwani 30.1-6-81-4, D Bundela 8-4-5-0, Y Golwalkar 23-5-75-4, A Ali 3-1-12-0.

Tripura (2nd innings):
T Ray run out 4
R Jaiswal c A Ali b N Hirwani 35
S Choudhary c and b N Hirwani 13
S Mahesh lbw b N Hirwani 59
S Dahad lbw b Y Golwalkar 12
T Chanda c N Ojha b Y Golwalkar 16
S Sharma not out 29
C Sachdev c sub R Yengde b N Hirwani 4
A Sarkar not out 0
Extras: (nb-5) 5
Total: (for 7 wkts, 84 overs) 177
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-51, 3-62, 4-111, 5-129, 6-170, 7-175.
Bowling: H S Sodhi 7-3-22-0, S Pandey 9-0-34-0, N Hirwani 28-11-52-4, Y Golwalkar 32-10-59-2, A Ali 6-1-9-0, N Patwardhan 2-1-1-0.