Services clung on to earn a nail-biting draw at the end of their four-day Ranji Trophy plate group encounter against Vidarbha on Friday. This after last man H Naidu was called upon to play out the last three balls. Fortunately for the Services, he hung on to ensure that the Services were 159-9 when play was called off.

Earlier, Vidarbha, who began the day on 72-0, added a further 102 runs at a fair clip for the loss of four more wickets before declaring. NS Gawande (41* off 34 balls) and skipper PH Sutane (33 off 42 balls) were the men who led Vidarbha's charge. This left the Services with an improbable victory target of 315 runs to get in 70 overs.

They made a strong start to their second essay, reaching 99-1, thanks in main to a 91-run third wicket partnership between opener PMS Reddy (43) and No. 3 Jasvir Singh (69). But, then, the rot set in; off-spinners Pritam Gandhe (5-66) and Madhusudhan Acharya (3-54) wrecking the visitors' innings. Only skipper S Verma, amongst the remaining batsmen, was able to make it to double figures as the Services avoided an outright loss by the slenderest of margins. Vidarbha had to eventually be content with just one point for having secured the first-innings lead.

The third day of the other Ranji Trophy plate group match between Goa and Tripura at Margao saw the hosts secure an impressive 170-run first innings lead. With RR Naik (41 off 157 balls), SB Jakati (61 off 142), Sanjay Dahad (65 off 67 balls) and RP Rane (75* off 110 balls) all contributing, the hosts reached 466-8 in reply to Tripura's 296 before declaring. Tripura were 13-0 in their second essay when stumps were drawn at the end of the third day.

© CricInfo