Ankit Sharma claimed his second five-for of the match as Madhya Pradesh notched up an innings and nine-run victory over Andhra to keep their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal hopes alive.

Anureet Singh (4/32) and Ashish Yadav (3/36) helped Railways beat Andhra Pradesh by 148 runs to pocket six points in Ranji Trophy.

Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh shared a point each after heavy for two days forced the match to be drawn.

Andhra were 237 for seven in their second innings when the four-day match ended at the Y S Raja Reddy Stadium. Maharashtra had scored 440 in their first innings in reply to Andhra's 317, with Kedar Jadhav scoring a strokeful 173.

Opener Srikar Bharat (62), Murumulla Sriram (82 batting) and Bodapati Sumanth (90) struck fine half-centuries against a listless Kerala bowling attack at the Conor Vayal Stadium, Tellicherry.

In reply to Kerala's first innings total, Andhra were 42 for no loss at stumps on day two with openers Prasanth Kumar and Srikar Bharat unbeaten on 10 and 22, respectively.

ACA General Secretary Dr G Ganga Raju said Lele's demise was a great loss, not only to the Baroda Cricket Association, from where he represented BCCI, but also for the Indian cricket as a whole.

Though no specific names were mentioned at the working committee meeting in Kolkata, news reports have said that five players - Sairaj Bahutule, Wasim Jaffer, Amol Muzumdar, Sanjay Bangar and S Sriram - are the new beneficiaries of the BCCI's largesse.

Former India batsman V V S Laxman on Tuesday stressed on the need for good coaches to train budding cricketers at academies.

Daredevils' chance of a recovery has ended for all practical reasons after six straight defeats but Jayawardene was not ready to throw in the towel as yet and wants his boys to show more determination.

Off-spinner Rohan Prem removed both the openers and then Sreesanth (4/61) took all the wickets that fell.

Sent into bat, veteran Amol Muzumdar was the top-scorer for Andhra as he remained unbeaten on 60, which came off as many balls, and with the help of six fours and a six.

After being invited to bat, Andhra were struggling at 139 for five at one stage but Muzumdar found an able ally in Syed Sahabuudin to rescue the side.

Sunny Singh (29) and Abhimanyu Khod (10) were at the crease when stumps were drawn. Both the Haryana openers, Nitin Saini (22) and Rahul Dewan (8), fell for the addition of 32 runs in the second innings at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium.

Muzumdar, who was overnight 89, scored 104 from 213 balls with seven boundaries.

Another of those nice blokes who never got his 'real' due.

Domestic record-setting batsman, Amol Muzumdar on Tuesday endorsed the new Ranji Trophy format featuring all teams in three groups - A, B and C - and points system along with a host of cricketer-turned coaches.

Worry was the overriding emotion for the athletes from Andhra Pradesh, ahead of the National Games that begin this Friday.