Quarterfinal berth a mere speck for UP

For the second time this season, Uttar Pradesh had to face humiliation on home turf. After losing to Railways at Ghaziabad last week, the home side conceded a 102-run first innings lead against Mumbai here on Friday.

For the second time this season, Uttar Pradesh had to face humiliation on home turf. After losing to Railways at Ghaziabad last week, the home side conceded a 102-run first innings lead against Mumbai here on Friday.

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With one point from the drawn tie, UP are languishing at the fifth spot with 13 points. The road to a knockout berth looks difficult as they'll need to beat leaders Karnataka (20 pts) in their last match.

Crucial blows
Parvinder Singh's wicket before tea and skipper Suresh Raina's run out soon after hampered the hosts' chase at the Dr Akhilesh Das Stadium on Friday. Parvinder (51) was in two minds while going for a drive against Ramesh Powar and was bowled. Kaustub Pawar's accurate throw from covers caught Raina short of his ground.

It was a bad start after UP resumed at 166/2. Man-of-the-match Sushant Marathe took a diving catch off Aviskar Salvi to see the back of makeshift opener Bhuvaneshwar Kumar (62) in the day's third over.

Though Parvinder and Raina stitched together 48 for the fourth wicket, their departure sealed UP's fate.

Powar was game-changer for Mumbai. The diminutive spinner kept testing the UP batsmen and added four more wickets to take his overall tally to 5/69. The match again witnessed a delayed start due to fog. In total, 105 overs were lost with the final day accounting for 22 of them.

Brief scores: Mum 414 & 11/2 v UP 312 (Powar 5/69)