Railways batted out 64 overs on the fifth and final day of the Ranji Trophy Plate Group semifinal to ensure their place in the elite group next year. They will clash with Gujarat at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai for the Plate championship.

Railways made 124 for two in their second innings while chasing 246 for an outright victory. They chose the safe option as opener Siddartha Joshi (44 not out) and Harshad Rawale (52 not out) added 90 for the third wicket after the team was reduced to 34 for two when opener Amit Pagnis and Sanjay Bangar went back in the space of 12 deliveries. Rawale and Joshi denied Kerala any further inroads.

They curtailed all the risks, and batted with a lot of patience to thwart Kerala attack.

Railways, though, they had enough overs to make a dash for the victory did not do so.
They preferred to opt for safer path.

Kerala bowlers tried hard but failed to beat their defences and just before the start of mandatory overs, both captains decided to call off the game.

Kerala skipper S Cheruvathur picked up both wickets in the Railways second innings.

Earlier, Kerala declared their second innings at 290 and gave Railways a target of 246 for an outright victory. Overnight batsman V A Jagdeesh remained unbeaten on 52.

Brief scores:
Kerala: 357 and 290/9 in 71 overs (RV Gomez 101, MA Sebastian 70, VA Jagadeesh 52; Sanjay Bangar 5-118, Murali Karthik 3-70) drew with Railways: 402 all out and 128/2 in 64 overs (Siddharth Joshi 41, HD Rawle 59; Sony Cheruvathur 2-16). Railways: 3 points, Kerala: 1 point.