Karun Nair returned to form with a patient hundred as Karnataka set a stiff target of 380 for Hyderabad on the third day of their Group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy encounter.
Courtesy Nair's 134 off 229 balls with 17 boundaries, Karnataka scored 332 in their second innings ending with an overall lead of 379 runs.
At stumps, Hyderabad were 92 for 2 with Tanmay Agarwal batting on 43. They need another 288 runs on the final day while Karnataka need to take eight wickets.
The day belonged to Nair, who scored his 11th first-class hundred. The century came after a prolonged bad patch that saw him getting dropped from the Indian team and also have modest returns during India ‘A’ tours.
He used his feet well against spinners to hit boundaries on all parts of the ground and was the last man to be dismissed.
Brief Scores
In Shimoga: Karnataka 183 and 332 (Karun Nair 134, Stuart Binny 72, Mehdi Hassan 5/88); Hyderabad 136 and (target 380) 92/2 (Tanmay Agarwal 43 batting)
In Guwahati: Assam 244 & 41/7 (Kunal Saikia 16, Anureet Singh 3/18); Railways 483/7 (Arindam Ghosh 109, Nitin Bhille 89, Shivakant Shukla 86)
In Lucknow: Maharashtra 312 and 256/4 (Rahul Tripathi 91, Ankit Bawne 58). Uttar Pradesh 271 (Almas Shaukat 63, Suresh Raina 0, Chirag Khurana 6/53).
Shahbaz's allround effort put Jharkhand on driver's seat
Shahbaz Nadeem hit a fifty and snapped two crucial wickets as Jharkhand posted 425/9d in their first innings and then reduced Haryana to 141-4 to take the driver's seat on the third day of a Ranji Trophy Group ‘B’ encounter in Ranchi.
Shahbaz cracked a 150-ball 70 and then dismissed S G Rohilla and C K Bishnoi -- both had scored fifties in the first innings -- cheaply to consolidate Jharkhand's position in the match.
Resuming at Jharkhand's overnight score of 311/6, Shahbaz (70) added another 30 runs with centurion Ishank Jaggi (135) before the latter was dismissed by Deepak Punia in the 102nd over.
Shahbaz then forged a 66-run stand with Sunny Gupta (37) to take Jharkhand across the 400-mark.
Once Shahbaz and next batsman Varun Aaron (8) was stumped by RP Sharma off CK Bishnoi's bowling, Jharkhand decided to declare at 425 in 133.5 overs after taking a lead of 217 runs.
Haryana had a disastrous start to their second innings with opener Rohilla (0) being sent back to the hut by Shahbaz in only the third ball of the innings.
Brief Score:
Haryana 1st innings: 208
Jharkhand 1st innings: 425/9d in 133.5 overs (IR Jaggi 135, S Nadeem 70; CK Bishnoi 2/43)
Haryana 2nd innings: 141-4 in 47 overs (RM Dagar 64, Rajat Paliwal 44 not out; S Nadeem 2/50).
Other Group B matches:
In Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala 1st innings: 335 all out Rajasthan 1st innings: 243 allout in 82.3 overs (DH Yagnik 62, TN Dhillon 44; Jalaj Saxena 8/85)
Kerela 2nd innings: 217-2 in 46 overs (Jalaj Saxena 102 not out, Sanju Samson 72 not out; TN Dhillon 1/34).
In Surat: Gujarat 1st innings: 455 in 143 overs (MC Juneja 131, CJ Gandhi 86; Parvez Rasool 4/108) beat Jammu and Kashmir: 261 and 130 allout in 34.4 overs (R Dayal 29; HP Patel 5/49).
Yo Mahesh, Indrajith help TN secure lead against Mumbai
An unbeaten 103 by V Yo Mahesh, batting at No.9 combined with a superb 152 by B Indrajith helped Tamil Nadu post 450 and grab a vital 76-run lead against Mumbai in a Ranji Trophy Group ‘C’ match in Mumbai.
Resuming at the overnight 239 for 5, the visitors lost R Ashwin (13) and N Jagadeesan (21) in the space of 48 runs.
However, Indrajith continued to bat with assurance and was involved in a 52-run partnership with Yo Mahesh as the team continued its pursuit of Mumbai's score of 374.
The hosts struck a big blow when Indrajith was dismissed after adding 47 runs to his overnight score by Vijay D Gohil to leave Tamil Nadu at 339 for 8. Yo Mahesh, who was batting on 26, took on the job of pushing the score ahead.
Brief scores: Mumbai 374 & 85 for 1 in 22 overs vs Tamil Nadu 450 all out in 142 overs (B Indrajith 152, V Yo Mahesh 103 not out, M S Washington Sundar 69, Vijay Gohil 4 for 129).
At Tripura: Tripura 205 and 103 all out in 44 overs (R D Banik 29, Mihir Hirwani 5 for 22, Ankit Sharma 4 for 51) lost to Madhya Pradesh 260 in 80.1 overs (Rajat Patidar 79, Gurinder Singh 4 for 94) and 52 for no loss.
At Vizianagaram: Andhra Pradesh 584 for 4 declared in 166 overs (G Hanuma Vihari 302 not out) vs Odisha 294 for 6 in 102 overs (Govinda Poddar 111, Subhransu Senapati 91, Bhargav Bhatt 3 for 66).
