Hosts at Railways146; 145;mercy146;

It can either turn out to be an exciting finish or may end up in a drab draw engineered by sheer backroom politics. Going into the final day...

It can either turn out to be an exciting finish or may end up in a drab draw engineered by sheer backroom politics. Going into the final day8217;s play of the Bengal-Railways Ranji Trophy tie tomorrow, the hosts are now completely at the mercy of Sanjay Bangar 038; Co in their quest for the semifinal berth 8212; unless the Pawar-Dalmiya tussle factor casts its long shadow at the Eden Gardens and shuts Bengal out.

For the beleaguered defending champions, it8217;s curtains from the Elite level, with skipper Bangar going on record today, pronouncing that it8217;s too late already. 8220;I don8217;t think we have a chance anymore of staving off relegation. We have resigned to the fact that we face relegation,8221; a visibly upset Bangar said after the day8217;s play.

Interestingly, while Railways, who won the coveted domestic title twice and ended runners-up once in the last three years, finished the day on a commendable 140/2 effective lead being 121 runs, the side still stands the chance of escaping relegation if they garner an outright win. But that is unlikely, given that the track is playing slower and lower by the hour.

On the other hand, Deep Dasgupta 038; Co have everything to play for though, with their task cut out.

Bhatia saves the day

Chennai: Rajat Bhatia used all his knowledge about the MA Chidambaram Stadium pitch and the opposition to put Delhi in relatively safer waters, if not closer to gaining two points, against Tamil Nadu. A masterly 152 not out finally did justice to team management8217;s adamant backing and his suppressed talent and along with Mitthun Manhas 8212; who struck a neat 89 8212; together got Delhi rolling to 366/8 at stumps on Day Three.

Thursday morning threatened to start on familiar note for Delhi but Bhatia took the initiative and showcased his big hitting abilities and with Chetan Nanda to stitch an eighth-wicket stand of 102 runs that avoided the ignominy of follow-on.

Brief Scores

Tamil Nadu 481/6 vs Delhi 366/8 R Bhatia 152 no, M Manhas 89; A Kapoor 3/ 107, Jesuraj 2/35

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Baroda 229 038; 272 Williams 86, Powar 92, Ojha 7-126 bt Hyderabad 131 038; 150 Y Pathan 5-30 by 220 runs

Railways 259 038; 140/2 Pagnis 76 lead Bengal 278 Das 70, Jhunjhunwala 55, Harvinder Singh 4-75 by 121 runs

Services 241 038; 182/3 Reddy 82 lead Haryana 282 Verma 74 by 141 runs

Andhra 208 038; 92/9 Sahabuddin 84 lead UP 365 by 135 runs

Maharashtra 213 038; 187 Powar 5-43 lead Mumbai 175 038; 155/7 by 70 runs

Karnataka 163 038; 226 Chipli 67, Uthappa 56, Trivedi 4-57 Gujarat 247 038; 106/3 trail by 36 runs