Mumbai in trouble after Shardul restricts Railways
Seamer Shardul Thakur had career-best figures in a six-wicket haul as Mumbai dismissed Railways for 242, but poor shot selection found the visitors in trouble on the third day of Ranji Trophy match in Delhi on Tuesday.
At stumps, the 40-time champions were 24 for 3, with openers Sushant
Marathe (5) and Bravish Shetty (0), and Aditya Tare (0) back in the pavilion.
Shetty flashed at a Krishnakant Upadhyay out-swinger while Marathe, clearly looking uncomfortable, did not display any footwork and played on to a Anureet Singh delivery.
Tare (0) went for a non-existent single and was run-out.
With inclement weather playing spoilsport, Mumbai were desperate to get at least three points from the game after their defeat to Jammu and Kashmir in the opening match.
Skipper Mahesh Rawat (68) was the top-scorer with 10 fours off 97 balls while burly all-rounder Arnab Nandi (60) played some attractive shots to take the home team closer to 250 before Shardul grabbed 6 for 59 in 24 overs, polishing off the lower order with precision.
However, the main wicket was taken by debutant pacer Badre Alam, who got the ball to sufficiently move as Rawat saw the off-stump bail being clipped.
Rawat, who was suffering from fever, played some lovely shots, adding 57 runs with Arindam Ghosh (34) for the fourth wicket.
In the lower order, it was Arnab, who shouldered the responsibility of taking his side from a precarious 126 for five to past 200. The two shots by the Bengal discard that stood out were a cover drive off Abhishek Nayar and a pull off Javed Khan.
He was the last man out but by then Railways had put up a safe score.
Brief scores:
Railways: 242 (Mahesh Rawat 68, Arnab Nandi 60, Shardul Thakur 6-59).
Mumbai: 24-3 (Hiken Shah batting 18).
Karnataka make Bengal follow-on
Courtesy a strong all-round show, Karnataka found themselves in the driver's seat after enforcing the follow-on against Bengal on Day 3 of their Group A match in Kolkata.
Repling to Karnataka's 408 in the first innings of the four-day encounter at the Eden Gardens, the Bengal batsmen showed little application before being bowled out for 251, just eight runs shy of avoiding the follow-on.
At stumps, the Laxmi Ratan Shukla-led Bengal were 49 for 1, still trailing by 111 runs.
Earlier, resuming on their overnight score of 62 for one, the Bengal top and middle-order fought hard only to give away their starts as Karnataka captain R Vinay Kumar and Sreenath Aravind picked three wickets each.
Shreevats Goswami (68 from 141 balls, 12x4) was Bengal's top-scorer but the diminutive wicketkeeper-batsman could not convert it into a big score and was trapped by leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal in his very second over.
The overnight batsmen Rohan Banerjee (46) and Sudip Chatterjee (57) also did their bit by adding 62 runs for the second wicket.
Bengal's most reliable batsman, Manoj Tiwary was out second ball duck soon after the left-handed Banerjee missed his half-century by four runs.
Fresh from his 192 in Baroda, Chatterjee found a fine ally in Shreevats as they looked to rebuild Bengal's innings, but it was Karnataka skipper again, who broke the 71-run partnership.
Unlike Karnataka, who reached 408 from being 69/5, Bengal batsmen showed no appetite to occupy the crease as it was a one-way road for the visitors.
Brief scores:
Karnataka: 408
Bengal: 251 and 46/1 in 20 overs (Arindam Das 11 not out, Sudip Chatterjee 20 not out; Sreenath Aravind 1-10).
Mishra bags six as UP skittle out MP for 63
After an ordinary showing by their batsmen, Uttar Pradesh staged a dramatic comeback with medium-pacer Amit Mishra bagging six wickets to help skittle out Madhya Pradesh for 63 runs in the second innings on Day 3 of their match in Indore.
Building on their lead after bundling out the Piyush Chawla-led side for 180 in the four-day encounter at the Holkar Stadium, hosts MP hit the self-destruct button against new-ball bowlers Praveen Kumar, who picked three wickets, and Mishra to see their top four batsmen get out for ducks.
The Kumar-Mishra combination worked wonders for UP as the Devendra Bundela-led MP slumped from 4-1 to 5-10, 6-23 and were finally packed back in 32.3 overs. Harpreet Singh Bhatia stood tall amidst the ruins, scoring 37 runs.
Chasing 179 for victory, UP were 82 for four at stumps, with Parvinder Singh 9 (not out) and nightwatchman Mishra (0 not out) fighting on. The visitors require another 96 runs on what promises to be an exciting final day's play.
Earlier, rersuming on their overnight score of 149 for six, UP lower-order could only add 31 runs to fall short of MP's first innings score (296) by 116 runs.
Brief scores:
Madhya Pradesh: 296 and 63 all out (Harpreet Singh Bhatia 37; Amit Mishra 6-26)
Uttar Pradesh: 180 and 82/4 in 35 overs (Tanmay Srivastava 36; Avesh Khan 3-34).
Punjab consolidate against Vidarbha
Pacer Sandeep Sharma claimed three wickets in four balls as Punjab took a 37-run first innings lead against Vidarbha and then consolidated it by ending Day 3 of their Group B match on 211 for six in Nagpur.
Vidarbha started the day at 149 for six but failed to overhaul Punjab’s total of 195, adding only nine runs to their overnight total.
The 21-year-old Sharma (5/51) polished off the Vidarbha tail in a jiffy, scalping all four remaining Vidarbha batsmen to claim a five-for.
He dismissed Rakesh Dhruv (7) in the fourth over of the day, then removed Shrikant Wagh (4), Ravikumar Thakur (0) and Swapnil Bandiwar (0) in a space of four balls as Vidarbha’s innings folded for 158.
Punjab now have overall lead of 248 runs, with opener Jiwanjot Singh (65) and number eight batsman Gitansh Khera (59 not out) striking half-centuries.
Khera and Siddarth Kaul (2) will resume Punjab’s innings on Wednesday.
In their second essay, Punjab did not enjoy the best of the starts as they lost Manan Vohra (5) and Amitoze Singh (1) in the first few deliveries but opener Jiwanjot Singh (65) and the middle order batsmen did well to ensure they go into the final day with a safe total on the board.
Jiwanjot faced 141 balls in his patient knock, which included seven boundaries.
Mandeep Singh (25), Gurkeerat Mann (22) and Taruwar Kohli (29) got starts but could not convert them into big ones even as Khera kept the ball rolling with his superb innings.
Khera punished the Vidarbha bowlers with seven shots to the fence in his 121-ball knock so far.
Brief scores:
Punjab: 195 & 211/6 (Jiwanjot Singh (65))
Vidarbha: 158
Menaria hits hundred as Rajasthan declare on 437/5
Former India under-19 captain Ashok Menaria struck an unbeaten century to help Rajasthan post 437 for five declared against Saurashtra on Day 3 of their Group B match in Jaipur.
Saurashtra made a strong reply, at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, putting up 180 for three before bad light ended Tuesday's play an hour early.
The visitors lost Chirag Pathak (20) and Sheldon Jackson (0) quickly but Sagar Jogiyani (68) and Arpit Vasavada (56 not out) did well to score valualble half-centuries.
The Jaydev Shah-led side still trail by 257 runs.
Earlier, resuming on their overnight score of 264 for two, Rajasthan’s top and middle order combined well to frustrate the Saurashtra attack.
If Maneria (100 not out) struck his seventh first-class century then Robin Bisht was unlucky to get out on 99. The contributions came after opener Vineet Saxena's 118 on the second day.
Useful contributions from Rajesh Bishnoi (33) and Arjit Gupta (40) also helped Rajasthan's cause.
Saurashtra medium-pacers Sidhartha Trivedi and Sudeep Tyagi picked up two wickets each.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan: 437/5 in 129.5 overs (Vineet Saxena 118, Robin Bisht 99, Ashok Maneria 100 not out; Sudeep Tyagi 2-76)
Saurashtra: 180/3 in 46 overs (Arpit Vasavada 56 not out, Divyaraj Chauhan 34 not out; Pankaj Singh 1-40).
Merai, Kalaria help Gujarat take control against Odisha
Pacer Rush Kalaria ripped through the Odisha top-order batting line-up with a superb bowling spell to put Gujarat in control in Cuttack.
Kalaria produced bowling figures of four wickets for 20 runs to reduce Odisha to 143 for five in their second innings at the end of third day.
But a brilliant counter-attacking innings from Abhilash Mallick -- 90 not out from just 82 balls -- rescued the Odisha innings from disaster. Mallick hit 16 fours and two sixes in a superb batting exhibition. Govinda Podder was giving him company on 36 not out, which he made from 114 balls.
Odisha still trail by four runs overall with just five second innings wickets in hand.
Brief Scores:
Odisha: 225 and 143 for 5 in 40 overs (Abhilash Mallick 90 not out; Rash Kalaria 4/20).
Gujarat: (1st Innings) 372 all out in 123.3 overs (Bhargav Merai 134, Akshar Patel 50; Suryakant Pradhan 3/59, Deepak Behera 3/80).
Andhra close in on win against Kerala
Andhra raised hopes of an outright win after staging a fightback by ending Kerala's second innings at 129 in their Group C match in Vizianagaram.
By stumps on the third and penultimate day at Dr PVG Raju ACA Sports Complex, Andhra cruised to 55 for no loss in just eight overs, requiring another 163 runs to bag six points with all 10 wickets remaining.
Srikar Bharat was batting on a 28-ball 41 with the help of five fours and two sixes, while Prasanth Kumar was giving him company on 13 at close of play.
Medium pacer Paidikalva Vijaykumar was the wrecker in chief for hosts Andhra, returning impressive figures of 5/33 after running through the Kerala line-up. K B Pawan was the top-scorer for Kerala with 34 even as none of the batsmen managed to build a decent score.
Brief scores:
Kerala: 229 and 129 in 78.1 overs (K B Pawan 34; Paidikalva Vijaykumar 5/33)
Andhra Pradesh: 141 and 55 for no loss in 8 overs.
Close finish on cards in Haryana-Maha Ranji match
Medium pacer Shrikant Mundhe picked up four wickets to help Maharashtra bowl out hosts Haryana for 176 runs in their second innings, leaving the Group B match in Rohtak evenly poised going into the fourth and
final day's play.
At stumps on the third day, Maharsthra were nine for no loss in their second essay in the pursuit of 208 runs for an outright win. The visitors still rquire 199 runs for victory with 10 wickets and a full day's play remaining.
But going by the trend of the match which saw wickets tumbling like pack of cards in the last two days, it will be a tall ask for Maharashtra to acieve the target.
On the second day of the match 18 wickets fell on Monday, while on Tuesday witnessed the fall of 10 wickets.
Brief Scores:
Haryana: 136 and 176 all out in 52.1 overs (Kuldeep Hooda 39, Sachin Rana 32; Shrikant Mundhe 4/36).
Maharashtra: 105 and 9 for no loss.
Jammu and Kashmir lose to Tamil Nadu by 277 runs
After humbling big boys Mumbai in their opening encounter, Jammu and Kashmir failed to weave their magic once again as they lost to Tamil
Nadu by 277 runs in Dindigul.
Chasing a mammoth 409 for a win in the four-day encounter at the NPR College Ground, the Parvez Rasool-led side were shot out for 131 as TN left-arm spinner Aushik Srinivas bagged five wickets.
J&K opener Shubham Khajuria top-scored with 60 runs as the visitors could only last 44 overs in their second innings. The match was surely dominated by the hosts from start to finish as the Ramaswamy Prasanna-led side outplayed the J&K team in every department.
TN, who had already got the upperhand after J&K were skittled out for 132 in reply to the first-innings score of 254, improved their batting show the second time around to bag six points.
Resuming Tuesday on 199 for one, overnight centurion Abhinav Mukund finally finished on 137 and stitched a second-wicket 124-run partnership with Baba Aparajith (73). Dinesh Karthik also contributed a valuable 24 not out as medium-pacer Umar Nazir Mir picked up two wickets.
Brief Scores:
Tamil Nadu: 254 and 286/5 dec in 69 overs (Abhinav Mukund 137, Baba Aparajith 73; Umar Nazir Mir 2-42)
Jammu and Kashmir: 132 and 131 (Shubham Khajuria 60, Ian Dev Singh 31; Aushik Srinivas 5-12, Rahil Shah 3-64).
Points: Tamil Nadu 6 Jammu and Kashmir 0.
Image: Bengal batsman Sudip Chatterjee after completing his half century during a Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka at Eden Gardens.
Photo: PTI
