A summary of the third day's play in the Ranji Trophy matches played at various venues across the country.
New Delhi: Unmukt Chand clobbered the Haryana bowlers in the final session with an unbeaten 48 off 52 balls as Delhi inched closer to an outright victory in their Ranji Trophy Group A encounter.
At stumps on day three, Delhi were 69 for no loss chasing a target of 224 with Unmukt hitting nine fours and a huge six over long on off Jayant Yadav.
Skipper Gautam Gambhir gave him company on 18 as Delhi need 155 runs on the final day with all 10 wickets intact.
Earlier, left-arm spinner Manan Sharma's six for 105 saw Haryana get all out for 265 in 93.4 overs.
Virender Sehwag looked good during his innings of 51 off 88 balls with eight fours before he was caught at first slip by former opening partner Gambhir off Manan's bowling.
The typical Kotla pitch, where lot of balls kept low, suited Manan's style of bowling as he had match haul of 11 wickets in the game.
With Ishant Sharma ruled out due to a hamstring injury, Manan had to take a lot of workload as he bowled 40.4 overs in the innings. With Parvinder Awana being rendered ineffective, Ishant's absence was felt even more as Haryana set a decent total on a tricky surface.
But Unmukt's robust approach turned tide in Delhi's favour.
Brief Scores:
Haryana: 196 & 265 (Virender Sehwag 51; Manan Sharma 6-105)
Delhi: 237 & 69/0 (Unmukt Chand 48 batting)
Odisha beat Assam by 8 wickets with a day to spare
Cuttack: Govind Podder struck a run-a-ball unbeaten 77 to guide Odisha to an emphatic eight-wicket win over Assam in their Group A match.
Set an easy target of 142 runs for an outright win, Odisha rode on Podder's unbeaten fifty which was studded with 13 boundaries to romp home in 35 overs and with a day to spare.
Besides Podder, Anurag Sarangi was unbeaten on 29 and Rajesh Dhuper made 21. For Assam, Arup Das (1-45) and Pritam Das (1-42) picked up one wicket apeiece in Odisha's second innings.
Earlier resuming their second innings at the score of 137 for eight, Assam failed to add a single run to their total as Odisha bundled out the visitors in just nine balls of the morning. Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad remained starnded on one end on unbeaten 42 as Odisha cleaned up Assam's last two batsmen in
no time.
Odisha's bowling hero in the first innings, Basant Mohanty picked up three wickets in the second innings to return with impressive match figures of eight for 53, which earned him the man-of-the-match award.
But it was Suryakant Pradhan who stole the lime light for Odisha in the second innings with figures of five for 27. By virtue of this win, Odisha pocketed six points from the match while Assam returned empty-handed.
Brief Score:
Assam: 92 & 137 all out in in 75.3 overs (J Syed Mohammad 42 not out; SB Pradhan 5-27).
Odisha: 88 & 142 for two in 35 overs (Govinda Podder 77; Pritam Das 1-42).
Vohra, Yuvraj lead Punjab's fightback against Gujarat
Mohali: Manan Vohra hit his second first class hundred and skipper Yuvraj Singh was closing on his 24th as Punjab made a solid reply to Gujarat's first innings by ending the day at 434 for five.
It was tremendous batting effort by the hosts as courtesy a collective batting show, Punjab are now set to walk away with first innings lead. They are trailing Gujarat by just 33 runs.
Vohra scored 104 that came off 229 balls with 13 boundaries. He was scalped by Romesh Powar. Vohra's overnight partner Uday Kaul was dismissed for 78 by spinner Rujul Bhatt. But there was no respite for the Gujarat bowlers as Mandeep Singh (63) and Yuvraj raised a 118-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Mandeep was run out and Himanshu Chawla also went back after a 31-run cameo but Yuvraj kept batting solid from one end. His 85 came off 122 balls with seven fours and two sixes. Giving him company at the stumps were Siddarth Kaul (2).
Brief Scores:
Gujarat: 467 all out in 139.1 overs.
Punjab: 434 for 5 in 127 overs. (M Vohra 104, Yuvraj 85 batting; R Bhatt 3-118).
Mumbai concede lead but still in reckoning against Tamil Nadu
Mumbai:
Mumbai conceded a first-innings lead as they were bowled out for 294 despite a feisty 150-run knock by Siddhesh Lad but remained in the hunt on the third and penultimate day of their Group B match against Tamil Nadu.
In reply, the visitors were tottering at 73-7 in the second innings but had an overall lead of 213 runs at the Bandra Kurla Complex. When the stumps were drawn, Malolan Rangarajan (15) and Aswin Crist (1) were the two unbeaten batsmen for the visiting team.
Resuming at overnight 45-2, Mumbai were rescued by Lad after a batting collapse with M Mohammed being the wrecker-in-chief with a haul of 5-86. Lad's knock was laced with 16 fours and seven hits over the ropes and came off 184 balls. However, none of the other Mumbai batsmen could support him in the middle as wickets kept falling at regular intervals.
In reply, Tamil Nadu batsmen put up a shambolic display with pacer Vishal Dabholkar doing the maximum damage with a haul of 5 for 41 in his 13 overs to keep Mumbai in with a chance of not just saving but also go for a victory.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai: 294 all out (Siddhesh Lad 150, M Mohammed 5-86)
Tamil Nadu: 434 and 73-7 in 27 overs (M Rangarajan 15 batting, V Dabholkar 5-41).
Bengal in hunt for a lead
Kolkata: Bengal rode unbeaten half-centuries from skipper Manoj Tiwary and Abhimanyu Easwaran to remain on course for a first-innings lead against Team Rajasthan.
Making full use of his two reprieves on six and 43, Tiwary (51 batting; 107b, 6x4) completed his 21st half-century and along with 20-year-old opener Abhimanyu (53 batting; 160b, 5x4) the duo put on an unbroken 88-run for the fourth wicket as Bengal were 136/3, trailing Team Rajasthan by 62.
After first two days' rain interruption that permitted only 59.4 overs, the penultimate day saw a full match and Bengal bowled out Team Rajasthan for 198 with left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha returning with four for 49.
"The primary target would be to secure three points and depending on the situation we have to take a call on whether to go for an outright win," Ojha said. Resuming at 140-5, Team Rajasthan rebuilt their innings around Vineet Saxena (66 not out), who ran out of partners after Ojha gave the first breakthrough in Dishan Yagnik (17).
The visitors added 35 runs after Yagnik's dismissal with Ashok Dinda, Veer Pratap Singh and Aamir Gani returning with two wickets each. Bengal were still on a rebuilding mode with 48-3 after losing Shreevats Goswami (seven) and Sudip Chatterjee (one) in space of four runs but the visitors failed to capitalise as Ankit Lamba dropped Tiwary's sitter at the second slip.
Tiwary became lucky for a second time when his top edge was dropped at long on by Nathu Singh as the visitors were severely let down by their poor fielding.
Brief Scores:
Team Rajasthan: 198 (Vineet Saxena 66 not out, Ashok Menaria 40; Pragyan Ojha 4-49, Ashok Dinda 2-44, Veerpratap Singh 2-45, Aamir Gani 2-50).
Bengal: 136-3 (Abhimanyu Easwaran 53 batting, Manoj Tiwary 51 batting).
Aravind, Suchith share 8 wickets as Karnataka take slender lead
Bengaluru: Sreenath Aravind and J Suchith claimed four wickets each to help Karnataka take a 40-run first innings lead over Vidarbha in a Group A
match.
Having scored 350 in their first innings, Karnataka bundled out Vidarbha for 310 in their opening essay to take a slender lead with Aravind (4-46) and Suchith (4-51) wreaking havoc.
At stumps on day three, Karnataka were 93 for one with KL Rahul and R Samarth batting on 34 and eight, respectively. Opener Robin Uthappa scored a fine 46 off 123 balls. Karnataka have now extended their overall lead to 133.
Resuming on 172 for two, Vidarbha lost their set batsman Ganesh Satish on his overnight score of 81. But Vidarbha captain Subramanium Badrinath scored 92 in 314 minutes off 216 balls with 12 boundaries. He also strung a 61-run partnership for sixth wicket with Jitesh Sharma (29) and another 42-run stand with Akshay Wakhare (19) for the eighth wicket.
However, just when it seemed that Badrinath would take Vidarbha past the home team's first innings total, Suchith claimed the skipper's wicket to trigger a collapse. Vidarbha lost three wickets at the same score of 310.
Brief scores:
Karnataka: 350 & 93/1 (KL Rahul batting 34).
Vidarbha: 310 (S Badrinath 92, Ganesh Satish 81; Sreenath Aravind 4-46, J Suchith 4-51).
Railways in drivers's seat against UP
Ghaziabad: Uttar Pradesh batting crumbled like a pack of cards as the hosts lost their last eight wickets for 95 runs to give Railways the vital first innings
lead at stumps on the third day of their Group B match.
Resuming their first innings at the overnight score of 160 for two in reply to Railways 37 all out, Uttar Pradesh's middle-order cut a sorry figure in front of Railways' incisive bowling to be bowled out in 103.5 overs.
Overnight batsman Tanmay Srivastava added 18 runs to his tally before being dismissed for 93. Lower down the order leg-spinner Piyush Chawla made a fighting 49 off 85 balls.
Medium-pacer Ranjit Mali (5-88) was the pick of the bowlers for Railways with a five-wicket haul, while Anureet Singh (3-67) and Krishnakant Upadhyay (2-61) were the other wicket takers.
Railways reached 154 for three in 44 overs in their second innings with Faiz Ahmed unbeaten on 62 and opener Ashish Singh making 60 before being dismissed. Kuldeep Yadav (1-12), Ankit Rajpoot (1-29) and Praveen Kumar (1-47) were the wicket takers for Uttar Pradesh.
Railways, thus, lead Uttar Pradesh by 265 runs with seven wickets in hands and day to spare.
Brief Scores:
Railways: 375 & 154 for three in 44 overs (Faiz Ahmed 62 not out, Ashish Singh 60; Kuldeep Yadav 1-12).
Uttar Pradesh: 264 all out (Tanmay Srivastava 93, Almas Shaukat 76; Ranjit Mali 5-88).
