India sufferes innings defeat at Sydney

Mumbai will take on Tamilnadu at Mumbai while Haryana will play Rajasthan in the other Semi final.  Interestingly there would be an English Umpire – Peter Hartley in the SF at Mumbai as part of an umpire exchange programme between the BCCI and ECB.

Dwaraka Ravi Teja and Akshath Reddy made merry adding 275 for the opening wicket in 74 overs but all that was in a lost cause as Rajasthan qualified with the first innings lead.   Hyderabad however will be in the Elite league for the next season.  Tamil Nadu  also gained entry with  a first-innings lead against Maharashtra at Chepauk. TN made the semis last year as well but were stopped short by Rajasthan, who went on to win the competition.

Ranji news as the  ignominy is complete – an innings defeat at Sydney.  Some tweeted stating that Dhoni has equalled the record of Pataudi by losing 6 overseas test continuously ! – another said, this is the longest (18 innings) Sachin has went without a century – there were some hopes in the way he and Laxman batted but a lead of 468 was always going to be too daunting.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar