A summary of all the action from day three of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Thursday.
Sudip Gharami struck a fine hundred to put Bengal on the cusp of a big win against Himachal Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy in Kolkata, on Thursday.
Resuming the day at 89 for one, Bengal ended up declaring their second innings at 291 for five. Gharami made 101 off 66 balls and skipper Manoj Tiwary scored 50 off 83 balls.
Himachal Pradesh, who were bowled out for 130 in their first innings, were 79 for one at stumps on day three needing another 393 runs for an improbable win.
Prashant Chopra was batting on 44 and Ankit Kalsi on 17.
Bengal had put themselves in pole position by making 310 in their first innings with Anustup Majumdar scoring 159.
In the other Group A game, Uttar Pradesh completed an innings and 230-run win over Nagaland.
Following on, Nagaland were bundled out for 185 after making 136 in the first innings. UP only needed to bat once after amassing 551 for four.
Resuming the day at 44 for six, Nagaland did well to frustrate UP with Shrikant Mundhe making a valiant 98 off 193 balls to delay the inevitable.
Brief Scores:
At Kolkata: Bengal 310 in 78.2 overs and 291/5 decl in 74 overs (Sudip Gharami 101, Manoj Tiwary 50) vs Himachal Pradesh 130 and 79/1 in 25 overs (Prashant Chopra 44 batting, Ankit Kalsi 17 batting)
At Sovima: Uttar Pradesh 551/4 decl vs Nagaland 136 in 42.4 overs and following on 185 all out in 55.4 overs (Shrikant Mundhe 98, Shivam Mavi 3/26; Karan Sharma 2/41). UP won by innings and 230 runs.
At Vadodara: Baroda 615 vs Haryana 278 and 148/2 in 43 overs (Yuvraj Singh 54 batting, Ankit Kumar 55). Haryana trail by 189 runs.
Assam end day five runs short of getting three points
Rishav Das and Gokul Sharma wore out an inexperienced Delhi attack with patient hundreds as Assam require five runs to get the all-important first-innings lead but only have two wickets in hand going into the final day of the Ranji Trophy group B match in Guwahati.
Delhi had scored 439 in their first innings, riding on opener Dhruv Shorey's unbeaten 252 while Assam ended day three at 435 for 8, needing five more runs to get three points from the game.
Rishav (160, 229 balls) and veteran Gokul (140, 299 balls) added 256 runs for the fifth wicket to put Assam in a commanding position before they lost a flurry of wickets only to recover towards the end, courtesy of a 57-run unbroken ninth wicket stand between Mukhtar Hussain (40 batting) and Sidharth Sarmah (16 batting).
On Friday morning, Assam look like favourites to get those remaining five runs.
For Delhi, it was the inexperienced bowling attack that brought about their downfall.
Debutant medium pacers Harshit Rana (3/86 in 30 overs) and Pranshu Vijayran (3/82 in 24 overs) bowled their hearts out but Rishav and Gokul flayed them for nearly 70 overs. Rishav's innings had 21 fours and a six while Gokul hit 20 boundaries.
The failure of Delhi to wrap up the innings at 378 for 8 when Mukhtar and Sarmah joined forces should be attributed to the more experienced pair of Simarjeet Singh (1/96 in 22 overs) and left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra (1/40 in 21 overs).
Mishra's inability to pick wickets and just bowl restrictive lines hurt Delhi while another debutant Hrithik Shokeen (0/75 in 19 overs) was ordinary in his first red ball outing.
Brief Scores:
In Guwahati: Delhi 1st Innings 439. Assam 1st Innings 435/8 (Rishav Das 160, Gokul Sharma 140, Harshit Rana 3/86, Pranshu Vijayran 3/82).
In Coimbatore: Andhra 297 and 162/5 (Ricky Bhui 62 batting). Tamil Nadu 1st Innings 345 (Sai Sudharsan 113, Baba Aparajith 88, Nithish Reddy 4/37).
In Mumbai: Mumbai 651/6 decl. Hyderabad 214 and 220 (Rahul Buddhi 65, Shams Mulani 4/82, Tanush Kotian 5/82). Mumbai won by an innings & 217 runs. Points: Mumbai 7 Hyderabad 0.
Karnataka dissect Puducherry in clinical fashion
The Karnataka pace trio of Ronit More, Vidwath Kaverappa and Vijaykumar Vyshak dished out a clinical show to power their team to an innings and seven-run win over Puducherry in their Ranji Trophy Group C match in Bengaluru, on Thursday.
Karnataka's seniormost pacer More returned with figures of 4/36, while Vyshak (3/23) and Kaverappa (2/44) gave regular breakthroughs as Puducherry's innings lasted just 16 overs on the third day to be bowled out for 127.
Resuming the day on 58/3, Puducherry lost two wickets in an over with Kaverappa inflicting the double blow when he cleaned up both the overnight batters, Sridhar Ashwath and Jay Pande in the second over of the day.
More, then got into the act as Karnataka sealed a bonus point victory with a day to spare to jump to the top of the Group C table with 10 points. Opener Ravikumar Samarth (137) was adjudged man-of-the-match for his first innings century that led Karnataka to 304.
In Delhi, Chhattisgarh inched closer to a second successive victory, putting Services in a spot with 145/4 in their second essay. Services still trailed by 31 runs.
Centuries from their No. 5 Amandeep Khare (125 not out) and No. 7 batter Ajay Mandal (114) handed them a crucial first-innings lead of 176.
Riding on the duo's 183-run sixth wicket partnership, Chhattisgarh posted a tall 389 in reply to Services' 213 all out.
Brief Scores:
At Bengaluru: Puducherry 170 and 127 in 43 overs (Ronit More 4/36, Vijaykumar Vyshak 3/23, Vidwath Kaverappa 2/44) vs Karnataka 304. Karnataka won by an innings and 7 runs. Points Karnataka 7, Puducherry 0.
At Delhi: Services 213 and 145/4 in 40 overs (Rahul Singh 71) vs Chhattisgarh 389 in 130 overs (Amandeep Khare 125 not out, Ajay Mandal 114; Diwesh Pathania 3/71, Pulkit Narang 3/78, Arpit Guleria 3/102). Services trail by 31 runs.
At Jaipur: Rajasthan 337 and 278/5 in 76 overs (Deepak Hooda 106 batting, Abhijeet Tomar 68, Kunal Singh Rathore 48 batting; Jalaj Saxena 3/79) vs Kerala 306 in 82.5 overs (Sachin Baby 139, Sanju Samson 82; Aniket Choudhary 5/85, Manav Suthar 3/87). Rajasthan lead by 309 runs.
At Jamshedpur: Jharkhand 386 vs Goa 362 in 134.3 overs (Eknath Kerkar 73, Darshan Misal 71; Utkarsh Singh 4/71, Shahbaz Nadeem 4/86). Jharkhand lead by 24 runs.
Gujarat trash Jammu for their first win of the season
The pitch remained the centre of attention at the Karnail Singh Stadium here as the ball kept the batters on tenterhooks after the Ranji Trophy group D match between Punjab and Railways had to be restarted in New Delhi, on Thursday.
Reduced to a two-day affair, Railways batters found the going tough and ended the day at 59/5 from 32 overs after Punjab opted to bowl.
The match was finally restarted at 2 pm after Match Referee Youraj Singh gave a go-ahead following a long discussion with both team skippers Mandeep Singh and Karn Sharma.
Karnail Singh Stadium has been notorious for producing some of the worst tracks in the country for years and the venue had also been suspended on earlier occasions.
It is understood that BCCI could take action once it receives the report from the on-field umpires and the match referee.
Railways debutant opener Rahul Rawat (12) was also hit on the helmet by Siddarth Kaul who returned with 3/19 from his 12 overs.
Few balls stayed below the knee height, while some flew off the pitch. The umpires were seen in a long discussion just four overs into the innings but it went on as Railways managed to see through the day.
At stumps, wicketkeeper-batter Upendra Yadav (10; 29b) was at the crease with skipper Sharma (1).
Their fixture had to be suspended after the surface was deemed “dangerous and unfit for play” by the match officials on Wednesday as it got off to a fresh start on an adjacent pitch.
As many as 24 wickets tumbled in 103 overs with fast bowlers accounting for 20 of them when play was stopped by the match officials. Punjab were at 18 for 4 in their second essay after taking a 12-run first innings lead.
Meanwhile, in Ahmedabad, home team Gujarat rode on left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai's 14-wicket match haul to thrash Jammu and Kashmir by nine wickets.
Their first win of the season took Gujarat (seven points) to the second spot behind defending champions Madhya Pradesh (14).
Following on, Jammu and Kashmir were bundled out for 182 with Desai claiming 8/66 to add to his first-innings tally of 6/38.
Brief Scores:
At Delhi: Railways 59/5; 32 overs (Siddarth Kaul 3/19) vs Punjab. At Ahmedabad: Gujarat 307 and 11/1; 2.5 overs. Jammu and Kashmir 135 and following on 182; 58 overs (Henan Nazir 43, Vivrant Sharma 41; Siddharth Desai 8/66, Hardik Patel 2/55). Gujarat won by nine wickets. Points: Gujarat 6, Jammu and Kashmir 0.
At Nagpur: Vidarbha 264 and 348/6; 79 overs (Ganesh Satish 142 not out, Akshay Wadkar 88; Parvez Sultan 3/96). Tripura 299; 95.3 overs (Sudip Chatterjee 83, Wriddhiman Saha 66, Sridam Paul 47; Yash Thakur 5/44, Aditya Sarwate 4/86). Vidarbha lead by 313 runs.
Manipur poised to win against Bihar
Manipur bowlers reduced Bihar to 217 for 8 in the second innings on the third day to give themselves a chance to win their Ranji Trophy match in Ahmedabad, on Thursday.
In reply to Bihar's first innings of 311 all out, Manipur resumed the day at 229 for 6 in their first innings and added 67 runs in 21 overs to be all out for 296. L Kishan Singha scored the bulk of runs for Manipur on Thursday as he added 35 runs to his overnight 30. Malay Raj snared two more wickets to complete his five-for (5/53).
After taking a slender 15-run first-innings lead, Bihar scored 217 for 8 at stumps on day three, stretching the overall lead to 232 runs.
If Manipur can take two Bihar wickets quickly on the fourth and final day on Friday, they can fancy to knock off the required runs and win the match.
Opener Baljeet Singh Bihari and wicketkeeper Bipin Saurabh made 53 and 54 respectively for Bihar. Harsh Singh and Veer Pratap Singh were batting on 14 and 15 respectively at stumps.
Brief Scores:
Bihar: 311 and 217/8 in 67 overs (Baljeet Singh Bihari 53, Bipin Saurabh 54; Bishworjit Konthoujam 3/52, L Kishan Singha 3/40) vs Manipur 296 in 102 overs (Prafullomani Singh 75, L Kishan Singha 65; Malay Raj 5/53). Bihar leads by 232 runs
