Led by skipper Shahbaz Nadeem's five-for, Jharkhand are eyeing an outright victory against Goa as they finished the third day of their Ranji Trophy Group C match in Jamshedpur on a strong position after forcing the visitors to follow on.
At the close of play, Goa were trailing by 136 runs. However, the visitors had all their wickets intact ahead of a gruelling final day.
Starting the day at 24 for one in response to the hosts' first-innings total of 360, the visitors lost wickets at regular intervals to lend Jamshedpur the upper hand.
Overnight batsmen Swapnil Asnodkar and Manvinder Bisla started cautiously, adding 28 runs for the second wicket. But the fall of Bisla in the 19th over of the Goa innings triggred a batting collapse. The visitors lost four wickets for an addition of 28 runs.
With the score board reading 72 for five, it was left to the lower middle-order to bail the team out of crisis.
Ravikant Shukla (64) and Rohit Asnodkar added 78 runs for the sixth wicket before Nadeem broke the partnership, getting one past through the defence of Shukla.
Rohit (39) followed suit few overs later to give Nadeem his third wicket.
Goa tail-enders, led by captain Shadab Jakati, tried desperately to hang on, but Nadeem and company proved plentiful for the visitors as they finally folded on 208, leaving the hosts with just enough to impose a follow on.
At the draw of stumps, the visitors were 16 for no loss.
Brief scores:
Jharkhand 1st innings: 360
Goa 1st innings: 208 all out in 71.3 overs (Ravikant Shukla 64; Shahbaz Nadeem 64/5)
Goa 2nd innings: (following on): 16 for no loss in six overs (Sagun Kamat not out 8, Swapnil Asnodkar not out 7).
Andhra consolidates position against Himachal
Amol Muzumdar (89) and Bodapati Sumanth (73) scored unbeaten half-centuries to lead Andhra Pradesh to a healthy 288-run lead against Himachal Pradesh in their Group C Ranji Trophy match in Nadaun.
Himachal lost five wickets for just 41 runs to be all out for 265 after beginning the day at 224 for five in response to Andhra's first innings total of 372.
Andhra' second innings did not start well as they lost three wickets for just 18 runs with Rishi Dhawan bowling a fiery spell at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium.
But Muzumdar and Sumanth lifted the side to 181 for three at the end of day.
The duo put on 163 runs for the unfinished fourth wicket.
Brief Scores:
Andhra: 372 and 181/3 in 69 overs.(B Sumanth 73 batting, A Muzumdar 89 batting; R Dhawan 3/53)
Himachal Pradesh 1st innings: 265 all out.
Assam clinch vital first-innings lead against Kerala
Riding on skipper Dheeraj Jadhav's 98 and Tarjinder Singh's 92, Assam scored 286 to took a 22-run vital first-innings lead against Kerala in their Group C Ranji Trophy match in Malappuram, Kerala.
The two added 155 runs for the fifth wicket.
At close, Kerala were 168 for one with opener A M Hegde (74) and V A Jagadeesh (92) at the crease.
Kerala now lead by 146 runs with nine wickets and a day left.
Earlier, resuming on 161 for four, Assam's Jadhav dominated the proceedings, though both were unfortunate to have missed centuries.
Jadhav faced 210 balls and hit nine fours and two sixes while completing 5,000 runs in Ranji Trophy when he reached 97.
Singh hit eight boundaries and two sixes while facing 181 balls.
Middle-order batsman R N Das contributed an invaluable 36 for Assam while for Kerala medium pacer Sony Cheruvathur 3/45 and Anthaf 3/63 shone with the ball.
Having conceded the first-innings lead, Kerala got off to a shocking start in their second innings, losing opener R V Gomez in the very first over from medium pacer Ahmed.
However, veteran Jagadeesh, who joined opener Hegde, went after the bowling and brought the side back into the game.
Brief scores:
Kerala: 264 and 168/1 (Hegde batting 74, Jagadeesh batting 92, Ahmed 1/20)
Assam: 286 (D S Jadhav 98, Tarjinder Singh 92, R N Das 36, Sony Cheruvathur 3/45, Anthaf 3/63).
