Ranji Trophy round-up: Karnataka tighten noose around Assam

A summary of the third day's play in the quarter-final matches of the Ranji Trophy. 

Karnataka stamped their authority on their quarter-final by cleaning up Assam for 185 before taking a 404-run lead by stumps at the Holkar Stadium in Indore.

Assam, resuming their first innings on 58 for three, folded up for 185, with Gokul Sharma (58) scoring the lone fifty.

At 168 from 4, it seemed Assam would get closer to Karnataka's 452 but they lost their last six wickets for 17 runs.

Defending champions Karnataka were 137 for two at close of play with Ravikumar Samarth (54*) and Robin Uthappa (6*) at the crease.

Opener Lokesh Rahul made 73.

Brief scores:

Karnataka: 452 and 137/2 (Lokesh Rahul 73, R Samarth 54 batting).

Assam: 185 (Gokul Sharma 58; Vinay Kumar 2/48, Abhimanyu Mithun 2/43, Sreenath Aravind 3/36, Shreyas Gopal 3/41).

*****

Herwadkar strikes maiden ton to take Mumbai to 376-2

Opener Akhil Herwadkar struck his maiden first-class century to take Mumbai to 376 for seven in their second innings at stumps on the third and penultimate day of their quarter-final in Cuttack.

Herwadkar made 161 off 272 balls with the help of 25 boundaries and three sixes, while Shreyas Iyer scored 82 off 124 balls (8x4s, 2/6s) to hand Mumbai 366 runs overall lead with three wickets and one full days play remaining. 

Siddesh Lad (41) was the not out batsman at the crease when stumps were drawn. Manan Sharma was the pick of the bowlers for Delhi in Mumbai's second essay picking up four wickets for 89 runs. 

Earlier, Delhi took the vital first innings lead on Tuesday. Replying to Mumbai's paltry 156, Delhi to witnessed a batting slump but just somehow managed to overwhelm the opposition score before being bowled out for 166 in 54 overs. 

Veteran Virender Sehwag top-scored for Delhi with a fulent 49 before being run out. Pacer Shardul Thakur scalped five wickets for Mumbai giving away 54 runs.

Brief Scores:

Mumbai: 156 and 376/7 in 119.4 overs (Aditya Tare 23, Akhil Herwadkar 52 not out; Pradeep Sangwan 1-16)

Delhi: 166 in 54 overs (Virender Sehwag 49, Shivam Sharma 30; Shardul Thakur 5-54).

*****

Aswin Crist gives TN upper hand against Virarbha

Fine bowling by medium-pacer Aswin Crist (3 for 47) helped Tamil Nadu reduce Vidarbha to 206 for 6 in Jaipur.

Replying to Tamil Nadu's first innings total of 403, Vidarbha were struggling when stumps were drawn on the third day, with Ravi Jangid unbeaten on 26, after the fall of Urvesh Patel's (31) wicket.

Vidarbha trail Tamil Nadu by 197 runs with only four wickets in hand.

Earlier, Vidarbha resumed at an overnight score of nine without loss but were jolted by 20-year-old Crist, who removed opener Faiz Fazal (15) and one-down batsman Ganesh Satish (0) off successive deliveries in the 11th over of the innings.

They could not recover from that stage, as none of the batsmen stayed long enough in the middle. Although Sachin Katariya (42), skipper S Badrinath (40) and Shalabh Shrivastava (39) did get the start all of them failed to convert those into big scores.

Badrinath and Katariya added 72 runs for the third wicket before the latter combined with Shrivastava to add another 39 runs for the fourth wicket.

P Parmeshwaran dismissed Badrinath, while Crist saw off Shrivastava as Vidarbha were reduced to 146 for five.

Laxmipathy Balaji then broke a threatening sixth-wicket partnership between Jangid and Urvesh at the end of the day's play.

Brief scores:

Tamil Nadu: 403

Vidarbha: 206 for 6 in 90.4 overs (Sachin Katariya 42, S Badrinath 40; A Aswin Crist 3/47).

****

Maharashtra in semis after win over Andhra

Maharashtra sailed into the semi-finals, beating Andhra by 75 runs at the Bansi Lal Stadium in Lahli.

Chasing 176 on the third day of the match, Andhra folded up for 101.

Anupam Sanklecha was the most successful bowler with figures of four for 19.

He was well-supported by Samad Fallah (2/33), Domnic Joseph (2/26) and Shrikant Mundhe (2/17).

Earlier, Kedar Jadhav, overnight on 81, was dismissed on the same score this morning, but his innings had already paved the way for Maharashtra to have a good total to defend.

For the record, Maharashtra had conceded a 47-run first-innings lead to the opposition, before riding on knocks from Jadhav, Harshad Khadiwale (47) and Rahul Tripathi (43) to progress in the tournament.

Sanklecha emerged as one of the key players of the match, taking eight wickets. He had figures of 4 for 45 in the first innings.

While none of the batsmen showed up in their second innings, D Siva Kumar was the best bowler for Andhra with figures of six for 79 that led to Maharashtra being bowled out for 223 in their essay.

Brief scores:

Maharashtra: 91 & 223

Andhra: 138 & 101 (Anupam Sanklecha 4 for 19)

Image: Lokesh Rahul of Karnataka during their Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Assam in Indore.

Photo: PTI