Ranji Roundup: Devdhar keeps Baroda in fray vs Mumbai

Opener Kedar Devdhar hit a stroke-filled 145 as Baroda took a sizeable lead of 303 runs, despite narrowly falling short of Mumbai's first innings total, on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Group A match.

Devdhar's knock came of 235 balls that included 16 fours as Baroda finished the day at 321 for five.

With a day's play left, Baroda will try for an outright win as Mumbai have already ensured three points by virtue of 18-run first innings lead.

With Aditya Waghmode (66), Baroda added 177 for opening stand before Deepak Hooda (66 batting, 75 balls) attacked the Mumbai bowlers with six boundaries.

Devdhar and Hooda added 57 runs in 12.4 overs to up the ante. Pathan brothers Irfan (12) and Yusuf Pathan (2) were dismissed cheaply.

The day belonged to Devdhar, who was brilliant and was especially severe on Shardul Thakur (0/57) and Balwinder Singh Sandhu Jr (1/71), treating any width offered with disdain.

Just when Devdhar was looking good, he edged one off Sandhu Jr's bowling.

Brief Scores:

Baroda: 305 & 321/5 (Kedar Devdhar 145, Deepak Hooda 66, Aditya Waghmode 66).

Mumbai: 1st Innings: 323.

Pant keeps Delhi in hunt with attacking, unbeaten ton

Rishabh Pant notched up his second first class century in only his fourth game, a strokeful and unbeaten 155, to keep Delhi in the hunt for the first innings lead against Maharashtra in their Ranji Trophy Group B match in Mumbai.

The left-handed Pant, who kept wickets for Delhi for almost two days during Maharashtra's massive first innings total of 635 for 2 declared, came in to bat when his side was in trouble at 135 for 3 and remained unconquered in a close of play tally of 376 for 5.

Pant, who had represented the country in the last Under 19 World Cup in Bangladesh, batted in an aggressive fashion to strike 6 sixes and 21 fours off the 165 balls he faced till stumps on day three of the four-day match at the Wankhede Stadium.

Pant's heroics were possible as he was let off thrice by the butter-fingered Maharashtra fielders - on 33, 62 and 93 - and went on to stitch together century stands worth 124 and 117 for the fourth and fifth wickets with Dhruv Shorey (71) and Milind Kumar (45).

Delhi were 51 for two before the innings was steadied by an 84-run partnership between Shorey, who struck 7 fours in 158 balls, and Nitish Rana (44). Maharashtra pegged Delhi back a bit in the last over to stumps with the second new ball as Mohsin Sayyed, easily the team's most impressive bowler, sent back Kumar caught behind to end the fifth wicket partnership.

Delhi were 259 runs behind Maharashtra at stumps on a track that still played true without showing many signs of wear and tear as hardly a ball misbehaved throughout the day.

For Maharashtra, Sayyed, who should have had Kumar caught by wicket keeper More when the batsman was on 4 in a Delhi score of 266 for 4 - returned with good end of day figures of 3 for 73, including that of rival captain and opener Unmukt Chand for 24.

The more experienced Shrikant Mundhe and off spinner Chirag Khurana picked up the other two wickets to fall.

Brief scores:

Maharashtra: 635 for 2 decl.

Delhi: 376 for 5 (Dhruv Shorey 71, Nitish Rana 44, Rishabh Pant not out 155, Milind Kumar 45; Mohsin Sayyed 3n for 73).

Chasing 307, MP 26/1 after Punjab's sporting declaration

First-innings centurion Yuvraj Singh produced another fine knock before the captain made a sporting declaration to set Madhya Pradesh a target of 307 on the third and penultimate day of their Group A Ranji Trophy match in Rohtak.

At stumps, Madhya Pradesh were 26 for one in their second innings at the CH Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium.

Earlier, Yuvraj, who notched up 177 in the first innings, cracked 76 off 120 balls with the help of eight boundaries and a six.

Yuvraj was ably aided by Taruwar Kohli (35) and together they added 94 runs for the fifth wicket before the team declared at 175 for nine in 51.3 overs.

For Madhya Pradesh, Ishwar Pandey was the best bowler, returning figures of 3/25 in 14 overs. There were two wickets apiece for Chandrakant Sakure and Ankit Sharma.

Play was called off for the day at the fall of opener Mukul Raghav's (16) wicket to Shubek Gill. Aditya Shrivastava was batting on 2.

MP required another 281 runs for victory with nine wickets remaining.

Bengal get vital lead despite Umang ton

Bengal today earned vital first innings lead of 56 runs against Uttar Pradesh despite a commendable effort from centurion Umang Sharma and Sarfaraz Khan.

In reply to Bengal's first innings lead of 466, Uttar Pradesh were all out for 410 in 112.4 overs. Umang (136) and the burly Sarfaraz (85) added 139 for the fourth wicket but that wasn't enough to ensure at least three points for UP.

At stumps, Bengal were 30 for no loss with a consolidated lead of 86 runs with a day's play left.

Starting the day at 126 for 3, the duo took the score to 188 before the RCB batsman was caught by Abhimanyu Easwaran off Sayan Sekhar Mondal's bowling. He faced 124 balls.

Skipper Ekalavya Dwivedi (17) didn't stay long as he was cleaned up by Sayan Ghosh.

Once Umang became the seventh batsmen to be dismissed as he failed to read a flighted delivery from Pragyan Ojha (2/101) offering a simple return catch. UP were 321/7 then.

Kuldeep Yadav (63, 100 balls) also tried his best with Piyush Chawla (34) and Imtiaz Ahmed (26 batting) also making contributions but off-spinner Aamir Gani (3/72) both Chawla and Yadav.

Brief Scores:

Bengal 1st Innings: 466 and 30/0

UP 1st Innings: 410 in 112.4 overs (Umang Sharma 136, Kuldeep Yadav 63, Sarfaraz Khan 85, Amir Gani 3/72, Pragyan Ojha 2/101)

Rajasthan bowl Assam out for 69, records innings win

Aniket Choudhary grabbed five wickets while his pace colleague Pankaj Singh took four as Rajasthan ripped through Assam second innings batting line-up in a sensational bowling display to register an innings win in their Group B Ranji Trophy match in Visakhapatnam.

Assam, who had scored 195 all out in their first innings, lasted just 20.2 overs in their second essay as they were bowled out for 69 as Rajasthan won the match by an innings and eight runs.

Only three of the Assam batsmen reached double-digit scores and five batsmen were out for duck.

The abject surrender of Assam batsmen against the Rajasthan pace duo of Aniket (5/35) and Pankaj (4/26) could be seen as Rashav Das top-scored with 16 while the next best was a 14 by Arup Das.

The best partnership for Assam was the 23 for the eighth wicket between Arup Das and Rishav Das.

Earlier, Rajasthan first innings folded at 272 after resuming the day at 208 for 3. Mahipal Lomror top-scored with 89 off 242 balls as he could add just five runs to his overnight 84.

Rajasthan collected all the seven points while Assam got none.

Brief Scores:

Assam: 195 & 69 in 20.2 overs (Aniket Choudhary 5/35, Pankaj Singh 4/26).

Rajasthan: 272 all out in 105.4 overs (Mahipal Lomror 89; Arup Das 4/53).

Himachal beat Kerala by 4 wickets

Himachal Pradesh notched up a six-wicket win over Kerala in their Group C Ranji Trophy cricket match in Kolkata.

Chasing a meagre total for victory, Himachal raced to 103 for the loss of four wickets in 25 overs at the Eden Gardens.

Karaparambil Monish picked up 3/31 for Kerala.

For Himachal, Gurvinder Singh was the best bowler, returning impressive figures of 5/37 in 15.5 overs, while Mayank Dagar and Rishi Dhawan had three and two wickets respectively.