A round-up of Ranji matches played on Friday
Bengal looked set to take the first-innings lead as they restricted Madhya Pradesh to 363 for eight in their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match in New Delhi on Friday.
Replying to Bengal's first-innings total of 475 for nine declared, Madhya Pradesh trailed by 112 runs with two wickets remaining at stumps on the third day.
Doing the trick for Bengal was Sayan Ghosh, who picked up four wickets with his medium pace bowling, at the Palam A Ground Model Sports Complex.
Madhya Pradesh, though, still remained in the game owing to Ankit Sharma and Ishwar Pandey's highest first-class scores -- the duo put on 121 for the eighth wicket.
Rajat Patidar made a fine 86 off 107 balls, with the help of 15 boundaries and two sixes.
MP's overnight pair of Mukul Raghav and Patidar extended their partnership to 84, having come together after seamer Ashok Dinda had struck on the first ball on the second evening.
However, they lost six wickets for 82 runs from that point, and were reduced to 166 for seven, thanks largely to medium-pacer Ghosh, who took four of those wickets.
Ankit then scored an unbeaten 90, while Ishwar Pandey was dismissed after contributing a brisk 63 off 55 balls, hitting six boundaries and three sixes.
Later, Ankit shared an unbroken 76-run stand with Naman Ojha (40 batting).
Ankit struck seven fours and three sixes during his 131-ball knock and could hold the key to MP's fortunes on the final day.
Maharashtra crash out
Mohali: Maharashtra's chance of securing a quarter-final berth was crushed as they were handed a 10-wicket thrashing by Karnataka on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match here.
Having taken a 182-run first-innings lead, Karnataka bowled out Maharashtra for 218 in the second innings, which left them to chase just 37 runs for victory.
Karnataka openers -- R Samarth and Kaunain Abbas -- achieved the target without much fuss to secure a bonus point victory.
This was Karnataka's fifth win this season.
Earlier, resuming on 313 for nine in their first innings, Karnataka folded for 345 in reply to Maharashtra's modest first essay total of 163, thereby taking a huge lead.
Karnataka medium pacer David Mathias (3/37), originally not picked in the playing XI but drafted in late as a replacement for Manish Pandey, then picked up three crucial wickets, including that of Kedar Jadhav, who top scored with 85 off just 59 balls that included 10 fours and two sixes.
Abhimanyu Mithun, who bowled just two deliveries in the first innings before going off the field, returned to take two for 44.
Karnataka will now have to wait for the result of the Jharkhand-Odisha match on December 15 to find out if they finish Group B as the toppers.
Brief scores: Maharashtra: 163 & 218 all out in 47.2 overs (Kedar Jadhav 85, David Mathias 3/37; Abhimanyu Mithun 2/44) vs Karnataka: 345 & 39 for no loss in 10 overs.
Points: Karnataka 7, Maharashtra 0.
Delhi in difficult situation against Saurashtra
Vadodara: Delhi's chances of a quarter-final berth was hanging by a thread after Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan failed to deliver once again as their side lost four wickets for 109 runs while chasing 276 for a win on the third day of their Ranji Trophy match against Saurashtra.
Delhi now need 174 more runs on the final day on Frwith six second innings wickets in hand to keep their qualification hopes from Group B alive.
Openers Dhawan (16) and captain Gambhir (34) fell early in the Delhi second innings -- inside 15 overs -- before their side had two more cheap dismissals, that of Unmukt Chand (11)and Nitish Rana (10) in the space of three deliveries, to find themselves staring at a defeat.
Rishabh Pant (19 batting), their highest run-getter this season, and Milind Kumar (8 batting) will resume the final day on Saturday.
The pair batted out 9.4 overs after Shaurya Sanandia picked up three wickets to leave Delhi reeling on 79 for 4.
At stumps, Delhi were 109 for 4 from 30 overs.
A loss for Delhi in this match would knock them out and Odisha will join Karnataka and Jharkhand as the three qualifiers for the knock-out stage from the group.
Delhi were to blame themselves for this precarious situation as they had pinned Saurashtra on the ropes yesterday by sending back five batsmen for 130 runs on board in their second innings.
Saurashtra were trailing 15 runs overall at that stage after Delhi had taken a 145-run first innings lead but they showed some lower order mettle through Arpit Vasavada (89) and Jaydev Unadkat (80).
The eighth-wicket pair of Vasavada, who resumed the day on 25, and Unadkat stitched 135 runs and took Saurashtra from 261 for 7 to 396 for eight before Pradeep Sangwan broke through.
Saurashtra's tail did not last long as they were soon bowled out for 420.
For Delhi, Navdeep Saini took three wickets for 122 runs while Nitish Rana got two wickets. Sumit Narwal, Pradeep Sangwan, Pulkit Narang and Manan Sharma picked up one wicket apiece.
Brief Scores: Saurashtra: 92 & 420 all out in 127.4 overs (Kishan Parmar 149, Arpit Vasavada 89, Jaydev Unadkat 80; Navdeep Saini 3/122) vs Delhi: 237 & 109/4 in 30 overs (Gautam Gambhir 34; Shaurya Sanandia 3/39).
Punjab close in on win against Mumbai
Rajkot: Punjab enforced the follow-on after bowling out Mumbai for 185 to keep the team in line for an outright victory in their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match.
After notching up 468 in their first innings, Punjab pacer Manpreet Gony's four wickets rattled the Mumbai batting line-up as they were all out in 60.3 overs at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.
In their second innings, Mumbai were 94 for two at stumps on the third day, still trailing by 189 runs.
It may yet not be enough for Punjab, unless of course Tamil Nadu, having taken a lead, lose outright to Gujarat.
Having already taken a wicket overnight, Gony took two early wickets on the day as Mumbai slipped to 19 for four within the opening five overs. It took a 101-run sixth-wicket stand between Sufiyan Shaikh (67) and medium-pacer Shardul Thakur (70) to rescue Mumbai from 37 for five.
Mumbai's resistance didn't last too long after this partnership.
In the second innings, Mumbai rode on a 72-run stand between Shreyas Iyer and Armaan Jaffer for the second wicket. At close of play, Shreyas was unbeaten on 59, alongside nightwatchman Vishal Dabholkar (2).
UP ahead against Baroda
Nasik: Uttar Pradesh managed a slender first-innings lead and then raced to 117 for no loss in the second innings of their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match against Baroda.
In reply to UP's 481, Baroda's first innings ended on 458 after a late resistance at the Golf Club Ground.
Baroda's last five wickets added 307 runs, but couldn't succeed in getting them the first-innings lead.
Baroda had been steadied by a 91-run stand between Kedar Devdhar and Irfan Pathan overnight, after having fallen to 151 for five.
The pair added a further 53 in the morning session on day three before Pathan was dismissed for a 98-ball 81. Devdhar eventually fell for 157, after adding 53 with left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh, who went on to make a career-best 95 as he added 97 with Sagar Mangalorkar(34) for the eighth wicket.
However, Kuldeep Yadav dismissed both of them in a space of four overs before a run-out ended Baroda's innings.
UP's openers, Shivam Chaudhary (55 batting) and Almas Shaukat (61 batting), put on an unbroken 117 to take them to stumps with a 140-run lead.
Gandhi's unbeaten 150 helps TN take lead over Gujarat
Belagavi (Karnataka): An unbeaten 150 by Kaushik Gandhi helped Tamil Nadu take a crucial 90-run first innings lead over Gujarat on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match.
At stumps, Tamil Nadu were sitting pretty at 397 for four against Gujarat's first innings total of 307 all out, with Vijay Shankar batting on 35, giving company to the centurion.
Resuming at 154 for two on day three, Gandhi, who was batting on 43, and B Indrajith stitched 116 runs together for third wicket.
Indrajith lost his wicket when the score was 270 in 115.2 overs, still trailing Gujarat by 37 runs.
Gandhi played out the morning session rather cautiously, ensuring Tamil Nadu did not lose any wicket early on. The star batsman added just 30 runs to his overnight score of 43 not out, with 73 runs off 277 balls at lunch. At the stroke of tea, Gandhi reached his century off 351 balls.
On the other hand, soon after the lunch break, Indrajith reached his half-century by scoring 53 off 128 balls. Indrajith lost his wicket to right-arm medium pacer C T Gaja for 66 off 162 balls.
Dinesh Karthik failed to make a huge impact, which he is known for, as he got out for 18 that included three hits to the fence. Tamil Nadu were then 300 for four at tea.
Both Gandhi and Shankar pushed the total further and put on an unbroken 97 runs for the fifth wicket.
The Gujarat's bowling was disappointing as Jaspreet Bumrah and Axar Patel went wicket-less. Panchal and Gaja were the only wicket-takers for the day.
Brief scores:Gujarat: 307 vs Tamil Nadu: 397 for four in 156 overs (Kaushik Gandhi 150
batting, B Indrajith 66).
Vidarbha to chase 188 for a win against Rajasthan
Greater Noida: Young pacer Lalit Yadav ripped through Rajasthan batting line-up with a brilliant six-wicket haul as Vidarbha took aim to score a consolation win in their Ranji Trophy cricket match.
20-year-old Yadav (6/60) triggered a Rajasthan batting collapse as Rajasthan bowled them out for 163 in 54.5 overs on the third day of the Group B match at the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground.
Vidarbha, who had scored 116 all out in their first innings, were now set a target of 188 to chase down for a win tomorrow and end the season on a high. They were already out for reckoning for a quarter-final berth.
Rajasthan, who took a first-innings lead of 24, slipped from 119 for 3 to 163 all out, with opener Amitkumar Gautam's 51 being the highest of the innings.
Brief Scores: Rajasthan: 140 & 163 all out in 54.5 overs (Amitkumar Gautam 51; Lalit Yadav 6/60) vs Vidarbha 1st Innings: 116.
Haryana storm into quarters after five years
Kolkata: Harshal Patel returned with a match-haul of seven wickets to enable Haryana thrash Tripura by 119 runs and qualify for the Ranji Trophy cricket quarter-finals for the first time since 2011-12.
Resuming on 186 for four, Haryana declared their second innings at 261 for nine just before lunch to set a target of 315 runs for Tripura.
Chasing a massive target, Tripura put up yet another sloppy batting display to be bundled out for 195, less than half an hour after tea to suffer the loss with a day to spare.
The former Royal Challengers Bangalore medium pacer Harshal Patel (2/33) rocked the top order in his twin bursts from his first two overs, even as the four-seam Haryana attack accounted for nine wickets, while one was a run out.
Skipper Mohit Sharma (2/50), Joginder Sharma (2/24) and Sanjay Pahal (3/47) joined in the act to reduce them to 65/7 and it seemed that they would fold inside tea.
But the eighth wicket pair of Gurinder Singh (62) and skipper Manisankar Murasingh (60) who put on 119 runs to delay the inevitable.
Pahal dismissed Gurinder in the fourth over after tea to trigger the collapse before claiming his third victim in Murasingh to bundle them out in 40.4 overs.
The 26-year-old Patel, who had also contributed with a cameo of 26 in a significant 66-run last wicket partnership with Mohit Sharma (39 not out) in the first innings, returned with a match haul seven for 60 to be adjudged man-of-the-match.
It's a sheer coincidence that Patel was instrumental in their 2011-12 Ranji qualification when he had returned with 28 wickets from seven matches.
Brief scores: Haryana: 231 and 261/9 decl in 66.4 overs (Nitin Saini 104, Joginder Sharma 31; Bunti Roy 4/42) vs Tripura: 178 and 195 all out in 40.4 overs (Gurinder Singh 62, Manisankar Murasingh 60; Sanjay Pahal 3/47, Harshal Patel 2/33, Mohit Sharma 2/50).
Points: Haryana 6, Tripura 0.
Summarised scores of other Group C matches:
1) Andhra v Hyderabad at Lucknow: Andhra: 190 & 171 for 6 decl (Hanuma Vihari 57;
Mohammed Siraj 4/52) vs Hyderabad: 143 & 13 for one in 7 overs.
2) Chhattisgarh v Jammu & Kashmir at Gwalior: Chhattisgarh: 370 & 101 for one in 29 overs (Manoj Singh 45 batting) vs Jammu & Kashmir 1st innings: 242 all out (Parvez Rasool 92; Sumit Ruikar 5/59).
3) Kerala v Services at Delhi: Services 1st innings: 322 vs Kerala 1st innings: Kerala 271 for 5 in 97 overs (Sachin Baby 112 batting, Jalaj S Saxena 84; Irfan Khan 3/73).
4) Goa v Himachal Pradesh at Mumbai: Goa: 380 & 99 for 2 in 35 overs (SP Amonkar 54 batting) vs Himachal 1st innings: 528 all out (Prashant Chopra 194, Sumeet Verma 160).'
Image: Karnataka's Abhimanyu Mithun
