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Manan Sharma returned a five-wicket haul as Delhi pulled off a dramatic 90-run win over Punjab following two stunning batting collapses on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match in Patiala.
Openers Unmukt Chand (56) and Gautam Gambhir (67) began the day for Delhi at 48 for none and they raised a solid 110-run stand but the visitors suffered a batting collapse to be all out for 192.
Delhi's four batsmen failed to open their account as Sandeep Sharma (3/33), Harbhajan Singh (3/51) and Gurkeerat Singh (3/20) effected the collapse by scalping three batsmen each.
There was another twist in the match as chasing a small 179-run target, Punjab folded for just 88 with Manan taking five wickets at the expense of 31 runs.
None of the Punjab batsmen could even touch 20-run mark with Mandeep Singh scoring 17 to be top scorer.
Varun Sood (2/40) began the rot by removing both the openers. He first bowled Gagan Khora (2) and then trapped talented Jiwanjot Singh (3).
Yuvraj Singh (15) and Gurkeerat Singh (15) resisted the Delhi attack for some time but could not carry on and Punjab kept losing one batsman after another.
Brief Scores:
Delhi 249 and 192 all out in 78.4 overs (Unmukt Chand 56, Gautam Gambhir 67; Gurkeerat Singh 3/20)
Punjab 263 and 88 all out in 34.4 overs (Mandeep Singh 17, Yuvraj Singh 15; Manan Sharma 5/31).
Bengal stare at relegation after MP enforce follow-on
Indore: Bengal batsmen continued with their shoddy batting display as they would be battling it out against Madhya Pradesh on the final day in order to save relegation from the premier group of the Ranji Trophy.
In reply to MP's mammoth first innings score of 514 for six declared, Bengal were all out for 219 in their first innings conceding a huge 295 run lead.
MP, who are eyeing for a quarterfinal berth predictably enforced the follow-on after which Bengal were 111 for one at stumps.
Debutant opener Abhishek Das gave a good account of himself as he is batting on 69 with seven fours and three sixes. The big hits came off Jalaj Saxena's bowling.
Bengal need another 184 runs to avoid innings defeat but more importantly need to bat the whole day in order to beat the drop in case UP win their game against Railways outright.
Three teams are in relegation zone. Jammu and Kashmir, who are currently placed seventh with 12 points from 8 matches and have completed their league engagements.
UP are currently on 9 points and if they get an outright win against Railways will go to 15 points and beat the drop.
Bengal, have a better run quotient (+0.921) than Jammu and Kashmir (+0.601) but an innings defeat can take their quotient below J&K. The safest route for Bengal would be to get a point and go to 13 which will save them.
In case they lose by an innings, then they would have to also expect that Railways beat UP and Praveen Kumar and Co get eliminated.
Brief Scores:
MP 514/6 decl
Bengal 219 (Sudeep Chatterjee 58, Amit Banerjee not out 41, Yogesh Rawat 5/65) and (f/0) 111/1 (Abhishek Das 69 batting).
Mumbai’s Harmeet Singh claims five wickets to eclipse Samarth’s maiden ton
Mumbai: Left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh claimed six wickets, including that of maiden centurion R Samarth, to help hosts Mumbai take a first-innings lead of 21 runs on day three of their concluding Group A Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka.
The defending champions, who have already booked their berth in the knockout quarter-finals, looked on course to take the lead at 317 for three before losing their last seven wickets for 98 runs to be all out for 415, 37 minutes before the scheduled close on the penultimate day of the game.
And in eight overs before stumps, Mumbai – with their hopes of qualifying for the knockout depending on an outright victory, ended with 19 without loss. Openers Shrideep Mangela and skipper Aditya Tare were the unbeaten with identical nine runs each.
At stumps, Mumbai were ahead by 40 runs and are expected to press for victory on the final day.
Samarth, not out on 85 in a team score of 175 for two chasing Mumbai's first-innings total of 436, batted for the first two sessions before becoming the third victim of Harmeet during a purple patch, which saw him bag four wickets in 31 balls on either side of tea, to trigger a collapse.
Samarth showed good judgment outside the off stump against the pace bowlers and was composed against the spinners to make a patient 180 in 523 minutes during which he faced 400 balls and struck 16 fours and a six.
The 22-year-old Mysore-born Samarth, playing his seventh first class game since making his debut in 2013 as regular opener K L Rahul was rested, and another youngster Shishir Bhavane (62 with 11 fours in 133 balls), put on 136 runs for the fourth wicket in 287 balls and 194 minutes that took Karnataka past the 300 mark.
However, the dismissal of Bhavane in the second session enabled Harmeet who took 6 for 139 - his second five-wicket haul - to slice through the visiting team's line-up.
Harmeet, also playing only his seventh Ranji game, bagged the wickets of C Gautham, whom he sent back in the last over before tea by turning the ball across the face of the bat, then had rival skipper Vinay Kumar stumped, foxed the well-set Samarth with another turning ball and then trapped Udit Patel leg before during his spell while giving away 14 runs.
Off spinner Akshay Girap took two wickets while Sandhu and fellow medium-pacer Shardul Thakur got a wicket apiece.
In the morning, Harmeet had accounted for Manish Pandey early after having trapped opener Robin Uthappa last evening to break the opening wicket partnership.
Brief scores:
Mumbai 436 all out and 19 for no loss in 8 overs.
Karnataka 415 all out in 139.4 overs (R Uthappa 49, R Samarth 180, K Kapoor 35, S Bhavane 62; Harmeet Singh 6 for 139, A Girap 2 for 128).
TN vs Baroda match evenly poised
Vadodara: A half-century from Swapnil Singh steered Baroda out of trouble and helped them set Tamil Nadu a 200-plus target on the third and penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy match.
Swapnil walked in with Baroda at 100 for 6, with their lead a mere 61 at that stage, and built fighting stands with the lower order before he was last out for 83 at the team total of 245.
Chasing 207, Tamil Nadu lost Abhinav Mukund after an opening stand of 38, and were 51 for 1 at the draw of stumps at the Moti Bagh Stadium.
Murali Vijay was batting on 26 and Baba Aparajith was giving him company on five.
Tamil Nadu require another 156 runs to win tomorrow with nine second innings wickets in hand.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu's seam attack began the day with a flurry of wickets, removing three Baroda batsmen for the addition of 27 runs to their overnight 73 for 3.
Swapnil added 58 with captain Aditya Waghmode for the seventh wicket, 30 with Gagandeep Singh for the ninth wicket and 46 with Sagar Mangalorkar for the final wicket before he became L Balaji's third victim. Swapnil's 178-ball innings contained 10 fours and a six.
Tamil Nadu could go through to the quarterfinals even if they lose, depending on other results. But, if Baroda lose, they will almost certainly have to win to go through, given the likelihood of Mumbai, MP and Railways going past their points total.
Vihari, Tanmay hit centuries to lead Hyderabad's strong reply
Hyderabad: Captain Hanuma Vihari and Tanmay Agarwal struck an unbeaten century each and put on a 217-run partnership for the second wicket as Hyderabad gave a strong reply against Himachal Pradesh's mammoth first innings total on the third and penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy match.
Vihari and opener Tanmay returned unconquered on 138 and 105 respectively to take Hyderabad to 297 for 1 at the draw of stumps in reply to Himachal's first innings score of 511 all out at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal.
Hyderabad still trail by 214 runs with nine first innings wickets in hand.
The home team started the day 36 for 0, and lost their first wicket in the 35th over when Vikramjeet Malik had Akshath Reddy (48) caught by Rashmi Parida. That was the only success HP tasted, as Tanmay and Vihari kept their bowlers out for the next 71.2 overs, while scoring at just over three runs an over.
Over the course of their partnership, both Vihari and Tanmay brought up their third hundreds of the season. Vihari was the dominant partner, his unbeaten 138 coming off 229 balls with 19 fours and a six, while Tanmay hit 14 fours from the 303 balls he faced, to end the day batting on 105.
Big win for Andhra against Goa
Ongole (Goa): A dominant Andhra notched up a crushing innings and 126-run win over Goa in their Group C Ranji Trophy match.
Thanks to the big win, the hosts earned seven points including a bonus at the CSR Sharma College Ground.
D Siva Kumar was the wrecker in chief, returning impressive figures of 5 for 38, as Andhra's second innings ended at 214 after they were bowled out for 196 in the first essay on the third day of the match.
Earlier, Andhra rode on Srikar Bharat's triple ton and Murrumula Sriram's 144 to post a mammoth 548 for five declared, laying the foundation for what turned out to be a one-sided game.
Image: R Samarth plays a sweep shot
Photograph: PTI