Ranji round-up: Badrinath smashes century to put Vidarbha in control

Jaipur: Skipper Subramaniam Badrinath led from the front with a sparkling innings of 152 to put Vidarbha in control against Rajasthan on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match.

The visitors declared their second innings at 296 for four on the third day, setting Rajasthan an improbable 405 for victory, who reached stumps at 33 for one.

Badrinath rallied Vidarbha, who were struggling at 19 for two, as he along with Shalabh Shrivastava (75) he raised a 191-run stand for the fourth wicket.

Rajasthan lost an early wicket in their second innings when opener Siddharth Saraf was bowled by pacer Ravikumar Thakur. They were bowled out for 188 in their first innings.

Bengal openers get a start after following-on vs Mumbai

Kolkata: Under-fire veteran opener Arindam Das shrugged off his poor form with a half-century to lead Bengal's fightback after being enforced follow-on by Mumbai on day three of the Ranji Trophy Group A match in Kolkata, on Tuesday.

After being bowled out for 210 in their first innings in reply to Mumbai's 414, Bengal reached 129 for no loss in their second essay with Das unbeaten on 80 and Rohan Banerjee on 44.

Earlier, youngster Abhimanyu Easwaran scored a career-best 85 which helped Bengal cross the 200-run mark in their first essay.

It was a frustrating day for Mumbai with the ball in the second innings especially after Shreyas Iyer dropped Das (6) off pacer Shardul Thakur.

The reprieve cost Mumbai badly as the senior opener went about his innings without taking any risk while the wicket got a lot easier to bat.

Mumbai used as many as seven bowlers but none could make the elusive breakthrough before bad light stopped the proceedings more than an hour before the scheduled close of play.
 
Sood spins a web as Delhi inch towards easy victory

New Delhi: Left-arm spinner Varun Sood made full use of the turn on offer bagging a maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket as Delhi claimed 16 Gujarat wickets on the third day to inch closer towards their third successive victory, in the Ranji Trophy.

Starting the day at 34 for one in reply to Delhi's first innings score of 425, Gujarat were all out for 150 in the first innings conceding a mammoth first innings lead of 275 runs.

After being asked to follow-on, Gujarat were 152 for seven in the second essay, still needing another 123 runs to avoid the humiliation of an innings defeat.

Sood was the pick of the bowlers in both innings as he got 4/50 in the first innings followed by 5-37 in the second.

Jogiyani slams ton in Saurashtra's gritty reply
 
Rajkot: Opener Sagar Jogiyani struck a fighting hundred in Saurashtra's gritty reply to Punjab's mammoth total as the Ranji Trophy Group B match looks set to be heading for a draw.

Jogiyani scored 145 and shared two century-plus stands with Bhushan Chauhan (49) and Arpit Vasavada (78) as the hosts ended the day three at 308 for four.

Jogiyani almost batted through the day, losing his wickets towards the end when he was caught by Taruwar Kohli off pacer Maninder Singh.

Saurashtra are still trailing by a huge margin of 351 runs and Punjab look like running away with the first innings lead, having declared their first innings at 659 for seven.

Openers Jogiyani and Chauhan batted with caution, seeing off the first hour, before the latter was castled by left-arm spinner Rajwinder Singh.

Jogiyani though found another able ally in Vasavada and the Punjab bowlers had to wait for till the fag end of the day to get success.

Vasavada batted for more than three hours and with Jogiyani raised a 180-run partnership for the second wicket. He faced 156 balls and hit seven boundaries.

Vidarbha have already taken the first innings lead.

Odisha close in on victory against Haryana

Lahli: Odisha bowlers came up with a brilliant performance to help visitors close in on victory against Haryana on the third and penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match.

Odisha need to chase down a target of only 39 runs for an outright win, after they managed to bundle out Haryana for a mere 143 in their second innings.

Having restricted Haryana for 127 all out in their first essay, Odisha went on to take a 105-run lead, having declared their first innings on 232 for nine.

Odisha started their day by declaring their first innings on 232 for nine before they claimed all ten Haryana wickets to take complete control.

Deepak Behera (4-22), Basant Mohanty (3-67) and Suryakant Pradhan (2-32) wreaked havoc as the three bowlers shared nine wickets amongst them.

Image: Subramaniam Badrinath