Ranji: Mumbai on top vs Tamil Nadu

Aditya Tare played a captain's knock while Abhishek Nayar and Shardul Thakur complemented their fine bowling effort with half-centuries to help Mumbai take the all-important first innings lead over Tamil Nadu in the semi-final of the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament in Rajkot.

Tare made a fine 83 off 181 deliveries with the help of nine boundaries to hold together Mumbai's first innings.

He was ably supported by Nayar (58) and Thakur (52) as Mumbai made 406 in their first innings in reply to Tamil Nadu's 305 before being bowled out at stumps on the third day of the five-day marque encounter.

Mumbai, thus, enjoy a lead of 101 runs over Tamil Nadu with the match interestingly poised with two full day's play remaining.

Nayar (4/66) and Thakur (4/75) were the star bowlers for Mumbai earlier as they picked up eight wickets between them during Tamil Nadu's first innings.

Resuming at the overnight score of 171 for four, Mumbai lost Shreyas Iyer (36) early.

But then Tare and Nayar joined hands and the duo shared 121 runs for the sixth wicket to take Mumbai to a strong position.

Soon after overwhelming Tamil Nadu's first innings score, Nayar and Tare departed in quick succession.

But Thakur and Balwinder Sandhu (32) played sensibly to ensure Mumbai take at least 100 runs lead over their opponents.

Right-arm medium pacer Vijay Shankar turned out to be the pick of the bowlers for Tamil Nadu with figures of four for 59 from 20 overs.

Shankar got good support from Baba Aparajith who picked up two crucial wickets of Nayar and Thakur with his off-spin bowling.

Brief Scores: Tamil Nadu 305 all out in 115.2 overs (Baba Indrajith 64, Kaushik Gandhi 50, Vijay Shankar 50; Abhishek Nayar 4/66, Shardul Thakur 4/75) vs Mumbai 406 all out in 150.3 overs (Aditya Tare 83, Suryakumar Yadav 73, Abhishek Nayar 58, Shardul Thakur 52; Vijay Shankar 4/59).

Jaggi engineers Jharkhand fightback vs Gujarat

Ishank Jaggi led Jharkhand's spirited fightback with his 15th first-class hundred, and helped his side take the crucial first innings lead against Gujarat at stumps on day three of the semifinal.

Jharkhand, who were trailing Gujarat's 390 by 176 runs with five down before play began on day three, rode on Jaggi's brilliance to end their first innings at 408.

Left-arm spinner and this season's leading wicket-taker, Shahbaz Nadeem, then put Gujrat under pressure in their second innings, reducing them to 100 for four at close of play and just 82 ahead going into day four.

But it was Jaggi's effort with the bat that allowed Jharkhand to comeback into the match. The 27-year-old, who scored his fourth century this season, has been instrumental in taking Jharkhand to their first ever Ranji Trophy semifinal alongside Ishan Kishan and Nadeem.

Jaggi shared a 92-run stand with Kishan for the fourth wicket on Monday and today (Tuesday) anchored a 70 and 97-run partnerships with overnight batsman Rahul Shukla (27) and Kaushal Singh (53) respectively.

Jaggi, who was overnight 40 not out, went on to make a memorable hundred. It was a rather entertaining innings with a 70 plus strike rate and comprising 15 fours and a six.

Kaushal too played his part well with a 92-ball 53 while Shukla frustrated the opposition with a 66-ball 27.

Veteran pacer R P Singh was the stand out bowler for Gujarat with a six-wicket haul.

Gujarat were off to a bad start in their second innings with tournament's leading run-getter and first innings centurion Priyank Kirit Panchal being run out in the eighth over.

Samit Gohel (49) and Bhargav Merai (44) took the innings forward with a 69-run stand before falling to the guile of Nadeem. Captain Parthiv Patel fell cheaply lasting only 12 balls.

Brief scores: Gujarat 390 and 100/4 in 37 overs (Samit Gohel 49, Bhargav Merai 44; Nadeem 3/36) vs Jharkhand 408 in 102 overs (Ishank Jaggi 129, Kaushal Singh 53; RP Singh 6/90).

IMAGE: Mumbai captain Aditya Tare scored 83 against Tamil Nadu