Wet pitch ruins fourth day's play

The fourth day of the Ranji Trophy semifinals also saw no play between Services and Mumbai despite bright sunshine bathing the Palam Ground on Saturday.

The pitch was soaked with water after the hailstorm and rain on Friday which blew away the covers. It has resulted in not a ball being bowled for the second day straight. Post a final inspection at 3 pm, umpires Subrat Das and Adrian Holdstock officially called off the play around 3:50pm.

After the first two days, also affected by bad light and rain, Mumbai had scored 380/ 6 with Ajit Agarkar (113) and Aditya Tare (108) scoring unbeaten centuries. With only a day more left, Services' first innings should be completed by Sunday to stop the match from spilling to the sixth day.

Mumbai coach Sulakshan Kulkarni said they were disappointed with the loss of play but preferred to keep their focus on the match. “It depends what time the match begins and how is the weather. We have potentially 196 overs for the next two days and a lot can happen. We will plan it accordingly,” Kulkarni told reporters.

Services, too, wanted to look at the things positively. “No one wants the match to be interrupted like that but we can’t fight the nature. We will fight till the last ball,” said Services coach Raju Singh. The umpires will inspect the pitch at 9 am on Sunday.